As predicted by everyone with a finger on the pulse of Chapala’s political scene, Alejandro Aguirre Curiel has temporarily bowed out as presidente municipal (mayor) to stand for reelection.
His request for an indefinite leave of absence without pay was accepted Friday, March 1 by a unanimous vote of the city council.
Before that vote, the council approved a temporary leave of absence from March 1 to June 10 for Secretary General Lilia Alvarado Macias, who is supporting the Aguirre campaign under the Frente Amplio X Chapala banner of the PAN-PRI-PRD coalition.
The agenda also included a shuffle of council positions to fill their seats. Alan Christian López Castillo, Aguirre’s righthand man and cabinet coordinator, got a thumbs up to replace Alvarado as secretary general. The local government’s solicitor Gamaliel Soto Pérez was then designated to sit in as interim mayor. And councilwoman Irma Paulina Vázquez Baltazar was named to substitute for Soto.
Aguirre served his first stint as mayor from 2001 to 2003. Under electoral reforms that have been in effect since 2018, like other incumbent mayors, he is now eligible to run for a second consecutive term.
Campaigns for this year’s four Chapala mayoral candidates commence on March 31 and run through May 29. Jalisco voters go to the polls on Sunday, June 2 to elect their next governor, members of the state congress, representatives in the federal Senate and Chamber of Deputies, mayors and municipal councils.