Violence and Chaos on Election Day in Quintana Roo, Mexico

Election day in Quintana Roo has been marked by violence and political turmoil. Two deaths, a vandalized campaign house, and threats against a candidate have all occurred in the run-up to the vote. The victims of the fatalities were both associated with Morena, a political party in Mexico.

On May 11, Manuel Santiago Tun, campaign coordinator for Morena's deputy candidate Alberto Batún Chulim, was murdered. Just over a week later, on May 19, Óscar Romero, who worked with Morena's municipal presidency candidate Estefanía Mercado, was also killed.

In addition to these tragic incidents, a campaign house in Tulum was reportedly shot up on May 31. The house, located on Orión street in the Mayapax neighborhood, was used to train the campaign team of Jorge Portilla, a candidate for the municipal presidency of Tulum from the Movimiento Ciudadano party.

This incident wasn't the first of its kind. During the week of May 19-26, a video surfaced showing a young man firing at a car parked outside a building where a member of Portilla's campaign team resides.

The pre-election atmosphere has also been tainted by intimidation tactics aimed at Fernanda Alvear, a candidate for the municipal presidency of Puerto Morelos from the Fuerza y Corazón coalition. Furthermore, there have been instances of dirty politics between candidates from various municipalities, and one person has been arrested for an alleged election crime.

On election day, 2,512 polling stations were set up across nine municipalities in Quintana Roo, with 2,496 being conventional and 16 special. The municipalities of Isla Mujeres and Lázaro Cárdenas were excluded.

In Benito Juárez and Othón P. Blanco, there were four polling stations each, with two in the municipality of Solidaridad. Six other municipalities each had one station: Cozumel Island, Tulum, Bacalar, Puerto Morelos, Felipe Carrillo Puerto, and José María Morelos.

Quintana Roo has an electoral roll of 1,460,063 voters, with a slight majority of men at 51 percent, and women making up the remaining 49 percent. The electorate will be voting to elect four senators, five federal deputies, mayors of 11 municipalities, 139 municipal positions, 11 trustee positions, 117 council positions, and 25 deputies.