As the line-up of candidates for Chapala’s mayoral seat takes shapes, it’s looking like voters will be choosing between four politicians who have already held the post and one independent greenhorn.
On February 5, the Partido Revoluccionario Institucional (PRI) gave the official nod to current presidente municipal Javier Degollado González to stand for reelection in the 2018-2020 term of office. Incumbent city councilman Juan de Dios García Velasco, his rival for the nomination, got a consolation prize to run as the party’s candidate for the District 17 seat in the state legislature.
After months of speculation over who might carry its party banner, on February 11 the Chapala branch of Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) finally unveiled former mayor Alejandro Aguirre Curiel as its sole contender for the mayoral race. An accountant by profession, Aguirre served as mayor from 2001 to 2003. He will relinquish his post as PAN Jalisco treasurer during the run-up to the July 1 election.
Moisés Anaya Aguilar will run as nominee for Movimiento Ciudadano (MC). As Chapala’s Síndico (the municipality’s head attorney) in the 2010-2012 administration, he was chosen to fill in as interim mayor during a three-month leave of absence taken by chief executive Jesús Cabrera Jiménez. He now holds a city council seat, gained in the 2015 election after losing the mayor’s seat to Degollado by a slim margin.
Although Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) won’t settle its internal nomination process until early next month, Gerardo Degollado González is considered as the shoe-in candidate. He was Chapala’s mayor from 2007 to 2009 and lost a bid for a repeat term in 2012 in a close race against Joaquín Huerta Barrios. As brother of the sitting mayor, he expected to eject heated sibling rivalry in this year’s campaign season.
The wildcard in the race is Juan Diego Castro Morales, who recently accredited sufficient signatures from the local citizenry to get his name on the ballot. While the marketing and public relations professional from San Antonio Tlayacapan has no prior experience as a public servant, he holds appeal to voters who have soured on traditional party politics and the refried mayors looking to reoccupy City Hall.
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