In the midst of record-setting election violence, substitutes for two murdered candidates have won election in Quintana Roo and Guanajuato.

Blanca Merari Tziu won the election for mayor of Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, after the murder on February 24 of her husband Ignacio Sánchez, the original mayoral candidate.

Karla Odeth Vivas, the sister of Merari’s main electoral opponent, is in custody for the murder. Merari herself, a Green Party-Morena candidate, was the target of two attacks during the election.

In Moroleón, Guanajuato, Citizens’ Movement party candidate Alma Sánchez claimed victory in the mayoral race after the initial candidate, her mother, Alma Barragán, was killed during a public meeting on May 25.

Sánchez said that she will move forward with the same team and plans that her mother established in her campaign.

“It’s beautiful and sad, because at the end of the day she isn’t here. I’m here for her,” Sánchez said.

With reports from Reforma (sp)