MEXICO CITY — The Mexican bishops’ conference has pledged to avoid promotion of any parties or candidates in the country’s upcoming midterm elections. The bishops also issued a statement May 6 calling on citizens to vote and support candidates promoting the common good.
In a May 6 statement, the bishops said Mexicans must “show discernment with the goal of opting for the people who can bring about the authentic common good.”
“If we have advanced in the democratic culture, we must eradicate attitudes such as apathy and indifference as well as avoiding that any person or group try to manipulate citizens in the exercising of their votes through pressure, giveaways or blackmail,” the statement continued. “Today, more than ever, the common good demands more actions the words.”
The same day, in a discussion organized by the Archdiocese of Mexico publication Desde la Fe, Bishop Cristóbal Ascencio García of Apatzingán said, “There will be elections because the system requires them, but, personally, I’m increasingly disappointed by the day with the elections.
“It seems that the sense of exercising politics as service has changed,” he added. “There’s a struggle for power, a power that brings unjustifiable enrichment.”
Mexico holds midterm elections June 6 and picks governors in 15 states. The election comes in the midst of a pandemic and slumping economy, but has been of the utmost importance for President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who wants to maintain a majority in the lower house of Congress.
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