In the small town of Maravatio in central Mexico, two mayoral candidates were murdered in one day.

Yesterday Tuesday the opposition National Action Party (PAN, right) demanded that the authorities conduct a thorough investigation into the killings and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Armando Perez (PAN) and Miguel Angel Savala of the ruling Movement for National Renaissance (MORENA, center left) were killed in their cars on Monday, according to the Michoacan state attorney general’s office.

The motives are not clear at this stage.

According to press reports, over ten candidates have been murdered already before the election campaign begins in view of June 2, when local, regional, parliamentary and presidential elections will be held.

Most of the victims were candidates in local elections.

Typically, the election campaign starts the day after tomorrow, Friday March 1st, but in practice the candidates have been fighting for months.

It is already considered certain that, for the first time in the country’s history, a woman will be elected in June to the top office of Latin America’s second economy, which is basically oriented towards the US.

The former mayor of the Mexican capital and the coalition candidate for the presidency, Claudia Sheinbaum, is considered the leading candidate, according to opinion polls. Her main opponent is the conservative senator Socil Gálvez, candidate of an opposition three-party coalition on the spectrum from the center-left to the center-right.

Ms Sheinbaum, 61, is strongly supported by outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, whose popularity is extremely high.

The legislation in Mexico stipulates that the presidency has a six-year term and the office is held only for one term.