The 2021 Mexican local elections, held on June 6, 2021, saw voters electing fifteen governors for six-year terms, deputies for thirty state congresses, and officials for 1,910 municipalities. These elections took place concurrently with the country's federal legislative election. The elections, alongside the federal legislative election, were one of the most violent in the country's history, with 91 candidates assassinated prior to election day.
In the lead-up to the election, two prominent electoral alliances were formed: the ruling coaltiton Juntos Hacemos Historia, a left-wing coalition consisting of MORENA, the Labor Party and the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico, and Va por México, a big-tent featuring the National Action Party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party and the Party of the Democratic Revolution. Additionally, Citizens' Movement participated in the elections as an independent party. 13 of the 15 gubernatorial seats up for election were being defended by a party in Va por México.
In the gubernatorial elections, Juntos Hacemos Historia achieved remarkable success, securing twelve out of the fifteen governorships, flipping eleven, while Va por México was only able to successfully defend two of their thirteen seats. The Institutional Revolutionary Party suffered the biggest loss, losing all of its seats up for election to Juntos Haremos Historia, marking the end of the party's state level dominance in Mexican politics.
Background
Prior to the campaigning period, 25 state governors signed an agreement with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, which stated that they would maintain neutrality during the elections, uphold the people's free will, reject funding from organized crime, and abstain from utilizing official funds to back specific candidates or parties.
Influence of organized crime
Several different criminal gangs implicated in drug trafficking, human trafficking, and fuel theft have a great deal of political influence in some states. The Sinaloa Cartel exercises considerable control in the northwest while the Jalisco New Generation Cartel′s (CJNG) influence is in the west, including the states of Michoacan and Guerrero. The Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas are powerful in the northeast.
In the past, drug cartels have influenced campaigns by supporting candidates and even running some of their own members or sympathizers as candidates for office, such as Lucero Sánchez López, former federal deputy from Sinaloa who was also Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán′s lover. Election-related violence is of particular concern in Michoacan, not only because of the aforementioned drug cartels but also because of armed community police who often act as vigilantes.
Incidents
Political assassinations
During the campaigning period, 91 candidates were assassinated, where 80% of the cases involved individuals who belonged to a party that did not control the state government. The secretary of Security and Civilian Protection, Rosa Icela Rodríguez, promised to step up security and provide protection to candidates who received threats.
Irregularities and fines
The Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE) canceled the registration of 19 candidates of MORENA for failure to report pre-campaign expenses.
The INE canceled the registration of 49 candidates affiliated with MORENA for failing to report expenses related to their pre-electoral campaigns, which affected two gubernatorial, 25 federal deputies, six local deputies, twelve municipal presidents, and four borough president candidates. Two candidates for federal deputy and one for governor of Michoacan from the Michoacán a Redes Sociales Progresistas were also withdrawn. The party was fined MXN $6,714,893.30. Fines were also imposed on PRD (MXN $409,031), MC ($227,886), independents ($182,361), PES ($98,782), Redes Sociales Progresistas ($85,229), PAN ($26,845), and PVEM ($1,476).
The FGR (Federal Elections Prosecutor) is investigating about 80 complaints about Internet celebrities (Spanish: influencers) who illegally used social media to sway votes toward the PVEM.
The INE said that 300 polling places could not be installed in Chiapas, Michoacán or Oaxaca due to social conditions that make voting dangerous or impossible.
Election day violence
Daniel Serrano, candidate (MORENA) for municipal president in Cuautitlán Izcalli, complained about vote buying on election day. The Instituto Electoral del Estado de México (IEEM) says that irregularities and violence on election day in Nextlalpan, State of Mexico, make it impossible to give a preliminary vote count (PREP), it may be necessary to hold another election. PRI says that vandals entered the candidate's house and burned it, in addition to sexually assaulting the candidate, and they destroyed voting material. MORENA says the allegation are false.
Violence was reported in Amecameca, Metepec, Naucalpan, Nextlalpan, and Valle de Chalco.
State races
Aguascalientes
All 27 seats of the Congress of Aguascalientes were up for election, where 18 were elected through first-past-the-post voting and 9 through proportional representation. Additionally, all positions of the state's 11 municipalities were up for election.
Baja California
All 25 seats of the Congress of Baja California were up for election, where 17 were elected through first-past-the-post voting and 8 through proportional representation. Additionally, the governorship and all positions of the state's 5 municipalities were up for election. Nearly all the members of the state congress were seeking reelection, except five, which sought other positions in the government.
Municipal elections
- Mexicali Municipality – Norma Bustamante (MORENA)
- Tijuana Municipality – Montserrat Cabellero Ramirez (MORENA)
Baja California Sur
All 21 seats of the Congress of Baja California Sur were up for election, where 16 were elected through first-past-the-post voting and 5 through proportional representation. Additionally, the governorship and all positions of the state's 5 municipalities were up for election.
Campeche
All 35 seats of the Congress of Campeche were up for election, where 21 were elected through first-past-the-post voting and 14 through proportional representation. Additionally, the governorship and all positions of the state's 13 municipalities were up for election.
Municipal elections
- Campeche Municipality – Biby Karen Rabelo (MC)
Chiapas
All 40 seats of the Congress of Chiapas were up for election, where 24 were elected through first-past-the-post voting and 16 through proportional representation. Additionally, all positions of the state's 124 municipalities were up for election.
Municipal elections
- Comitán – Constantino Kánter (MORENA), former mayor of Comitán (PRI, 2005–2007). Kanter is known for supporting ranchers and landowners against indigenous rights and against the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) during the 1994 uprising.
Chihuahua
All 33 seats of the Congress of Chihuahua were up for election, where 22 were elected through first-past-the-post voting and 11 through proportional representation. Additionally, the governorship and all positions of the state's 67 municipalities were up for election.
Before the elections, on March 4, 2021, Yuriel Armando González Lara, mayoral candidate for Nuevo Casas Grandes, was assassinated.
Municipal elections
- Ciudad Juárez – Cruz Pérez Cuéllar MORENA, former state president of PAN and gubernatorial candidate in 2016
Coahuila
All positions of the state's 38 municipalities were up for election.
Colima
All 25 seats of the Congress of Colima were up for election, where 16 were elected through first-past-the-post voting and 9 through proportional representation. Additionally, the governorship and all positions of the state's 10 municipalities were up for election.
Durango
All 25 seats of the Congress of Durango were up for election, where 15 were elected through first-past-the-post voting and 10 through proportional representation.
Guanajuato
All 36 seats of the Congress of Guanajuato were up for election, where 22 were elected through first-past-the-post voting and 14 through proportional representation. Additionally, all positions of the state's 46 municipalities were up for election.
On March 31, 2021, Alejandro Galicia Juárez, candidate for regidor of Apaseo el Grande, was assassinated.
Municipal elections
- León – Ricardo Sheffield (MORENA), former mayor of León (PAN 2009–2012) and gubernatorial candidate in 2018
Guerrero
All 46 seats of the Congress of Guerrero were up for election, where 28 were elected through first-past-the-post voting and 18 through proportional representation. Additionally, the governorship and all positions of the state's 80 municipalities were up for election.
Municipal elections
- Acapulco (municipality) – Abelina López (MORENA)
Hidalgo
All 30 seats of the Congress of Hidalgo were up for election, where 18 were elected through first-past-the-post voting and 12 through proportional representation. Additionally, there were special municipal elections for Acaxochitlán and Ixmiquilpan
Jalisco
All 38 seats of the Congress of Jalisco were up for election, where 20 were elected through first-past-the-post voting and 18 through proportional representation. Additionally, all positions of the state's 125 municipalities were up for election.
Municipal elections
- Guadalajara – Ismael del Toro (MC), incumbent
- Zapopan – Juan José Frangie Saade (MC)
- Tlajomulco de Zúñiga – Salvador Zamora Zamora (MC)
- Puerto Vallarta – Luis Michel (MORENA)
Michoacán
All 40 seats of the Congress of Michoacán were up for election, where 24 were elected through first-past-the-post voting and 16 through proportional representation. Additionally, the governorship and all positions of the state's 112 municipalities were up for election.
Organized crime and indigenous groups blocked the installion of 100 of the 6,251 polling places in the state.
Mexico City
All 66 seats of the Congress of Mexico City were up for election, where 33 were elected through first-past-the-post voting and 33 through proportional representation. Additionally, the entity's 16 borough mayors were up for election.
Borough mayoral elections
- Azcapotzalco: Margarita Saldaña PAN
- Álvaro Obregón: Lía Limón García PAN
- Benito Juárez: Santiago Taboada PAN
- Coyoacán: Giovanni Gutiérrez PRD
- Cuajimalpa: Adrián Rubalcava PRI
- Cuauhtémoc: Sandra Xantall Cuevas PAN
- Gustavo A. Madero: Francisco Chiguil MORENA
- Iztacalco: Raúl Armando Quintero MORENA
- Iztapalapa: Clara Brugada MORENA
- Magdalena Contreras: Luis Gerardo Quijano PRI
- Miguel Hidalgo: Mauricio Tabe PAN
- Milpa Alta: Judith Venegas MORENA
- Tláhuac: Berenice Hernández MORENA
- Tlalpan: Alfa González Magallanes PRD
- Venustiano Carranza: Evelyn Parra MORENA
- Xochimilco: José Carlos Acosta MORENA PAN and PRI request a recount.
Mexico State
All 75 seats of the Congress of the State of Mexico were up for election, where 45 were elected through first-past-the-post voting and 30 through proportional representation. Additionally, all positions of the state's 125 municipalities were up for election.
On election day, several municipalities reported irregularities and violence. In Amecameca, two people were injured in a shooting incidenty that interrupted voting. In Metepec, twenty men destroyed a polling place. In Naucalpan, a fake grenade briefly caused panic. In Valle de Chalco, two polling stations were attacked by armed gunmen, causing their early closure.
Municipal elections
- Tepotzotlán: Ángeles Zuppa Villegas (MC), daughter of three-time mayor Ángel Zuppa Núñez.
Morelos
All 20 seats of the Congress of Morelos were up for election, where 12 were elected through first-past-the-post voting and 8 through proportional representation. Additionally, all positions of the state's 33 municipalities were up for election.
Municipal elections
- Jojutla – Juan Ángel Flores Bustamante (MORENA), incumbent
- Jiutepec – Rafael Reyes (MORENA), incumbent
- Puente de Ixtla – Claudia Mazari (MORENA)
- Cuautla – Rodrigo Arredondo (MORENA)
- Axochiapan – Félix Sánchez (MORENA)
- Tlaltizapán – Gabriel Moreno (MORENA)
- Tlaquiltenango – Carlos Franco (MORENA)
Nayarit
All 30 seats of the Congress of Nayarit were up for election, where 18 were elected through first-past-the-post voting and 12 through proportional representation. Additionally, the governorship and all positions of the state's 20 municipalities were up for election.
The National Electoral Institute (INE) warned that Governor Antonio Echevarria was evading his responsibilities, claiming that he lied about the state not having MXN $200 million needed to organize the elections.
Nuevo León
All 42 seats of the Congress of Nuevo León were up for election, where 26 were elected through first-past-the-post voting and 16 through proportional representation. Additionally, the governorship and all positions of the state's 51 municipalities were up for election.
Mayco Fabián Tapia Quiñones, state deputy candidate, was murdered on March 24, 2021.