Yolanda Martínez Llamas won the election as president of the Lake Chapala Society (LCS) Board of Directors in a landslide victory during the extraordinary membership assembly held on Tuesday, August 20.

The meeting saw a large turnout, with around 350 voting members gathered in the south gardens of the LCS campus and 150 more participating via Zoom. The election followed a contentious month-long campaign and six months of internal strife that began at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) last March.

Former LCS Executive Director Terry Vidal announced his candidacy for president in a letter published in the July 20 edition of the Guadalajara Reporter. Martínez followed suit a week later, and on August 1, Shelley Edson became the first registered nominee. However, as the debate and mudslinging between the Martínez and Vidal camps escalated, Edson withdrew from the race on August 10, throwing her support behind Vidal. Then, on August 16, Vidal himself withdrew due to a blackmail threat from an unnamed LCS insider, backing Edson, who agreed to reinstate her candidacy through a nomination from the floor.

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