MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s National Electoral Institute (INE) on Thursday withdrew the gubernatorial candidacy of a politician from the ruling party who faces a rape allegation, citing a failure to provide pre-campaign expense reports, an INE spokeswoman said.
The INE voted in an extraordinary session to withdraw the candidacy registration of Felix Salgado Macedonio, who was running for governor of the state of Guerrero as a candidate of President Andres Manual Lopez Obrador’s MORENA party, due to the omission of pre-campaign expense reports, the spokeswoman said.
Salgado has denied the rape allegation.
Lopez Obrador sparked controversy with his support for Salgado. The president said calls for Salgado to step down were politically motivated.
The INE’s decision can be appealed and potentially overturned by the electoral tribune, the spokeswoman said.
The INE also fined at least seven political parties for “irregularities found during the pre-campaign stage,” a news release said, including MORENA, which was fined the highest amount of more than 3 million pesos.
(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Robert Birsel)
