Two Mexican candidates for mayor are shot dead in Mexico just two days apart - marking SEVEN political murders in the country this year ahead of election in June

Two mayoral candidates have been shot dead in the span of two days in Mexico - marking the seventh political murders ahead of the June general elections.

Diego Pérez, who was running for office in the southern state of Chiapas, was found dead Thursday.

His body showed signs of torture and was left lying next to his wife and son, who were both wounded.

Pérez was the Institutional Revolutionary Party's nominee for mayor of San Juan Cancuc.

'We strongly call on the authorities to clarify these facts and punish those responsible,' the Institutional Revolutionary Party said in a statement.

'The government cannot continue denying reality: More than 110 acts of violence related to the electoral process demand that measures be taken to guarantee the safety of all and prevent organized crime from being the one who chooses on June 2, and not good citizens.'

Tomás Morales, who aspired to become the mayor of Chilapa, a municipality in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, was executed Tuesday night.

Diego Pérez, who was running for office in the southern state of Chiapas, was found dead Thursday. His wife and son were wounded

Tomás Morales  aspired to become the mayor of Chilapa, a municipality in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, and was shot dead in front of his home Tuesday night

Authorities said the 40-year-old was approached by a gunman as he stepped out of his car and was shot in the head in front of his home. He was declared dead on the scene.

Morales served as councilman in the neighboring city of José Joaquín de Herrera from 2009 to 2012.

His wife, Delia Solano, was a councilman in Chilapa from 2018 to 2021.

He had been working for a social government program and resigned in January to pursue his mayoral aspirations under the governing Morena party of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador although the political bloc had not formally named him as its official candidate.

Alfredo González, a mayoral contender in the town of Atoyac, Guerrero, was shot to death on March 2

Miguel Ángel Zavala, who was from the governing Morena party of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was shot dead February 26. 

Armando Pérez, the candidate for the National Action Party, was found shot dead on February 27

Miguel Angel Zavala, from the Morena party, was found dead in Maravatio, Mexico on February 26

Armando Pérez, of the conservative National Action Party, was murdered February 27. A third mayoral hopeful from that town was abducted and found dead in November.

Yair Romero, who running for Congress for the Morena party in the sprawling Mexico City suburb of Ecatepec was fatally shot in the street alongside his brother on February 10.  He had allegedly received threats from a local union.

On January 5,  David González, the local leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party and candidate for mayor of Suchiate, Chiapas, was killed. 

The same day, in the northwestern state of Colima, Sergio Hueso, a mayoral candidate of the Citizen Movement party in Armeria was shot by gunmen while in his vehicle.  

Mexico's drug cartels have often focused assassination attempts on mayors and mayoral candidates, in a bid to control local police or extort money from municipal governments.

Yair Romero had hopes becoming a member of Mexico's Congress and was found shot dead next to his brother February 10 in the Mexico City suburb of Ecatepec

David González, the local leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party and candidate for mayor of Suchiate, Chiapas, was killed January 5

The watchdog group Civic Data said in a January report on political violence that '2023 was the most violent year in our database. And everything suggests that 2024 will be worse.'

Mayoral, state and federal elections are increasingly synchronized on one election day. 

'It is likely that the biggest elections in history will also suffer the biggest attacks from organized crime,' Civic Data said.

Michoacán had the fifth-highest number of attacks on politicians and government officials in 2023, behind Guerrero and Guanajuato. Zacatecas and Veracruz also had a higher number of attacks.