Guadalajara’s Milenio newspaper conducted a poll this week indicating that if elections were held now, 44.9 percent of voters would pick Alfaro, a former mayor of Tlajamulco who came second in state governor’s race in 2012.
This gives him a clear lead over his nearest rival, Ricardo Villanueva of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), who polled 41.3 percent.
While Alfaro came out ahead, the polling firm called the survey a “technical draw” because the margin of difference was only 3.6 percent.
Nevertheless, MC’s state coordinator Hugo Luna Vazquez said it was “useless” to enter into “a competition of numbers” at such an early stage. The Jalisco campaigns officially kick off on April 5 in preparation for the elections on June 7.
PRI leaders brushed off the poll results, suggesting that most Tapatios believe former state cabinet advisor Ricardo Villanueva is the most likely candidate to prevail.
“People not only know who Ricardo is but … share his way of seeing things and his view of the city,” said PRI President Miguel Castro Reynoso. “They respect him as an intelligent man who knows how to solve problems.”
Meanwhile, National Action Party (PAN) candidate Alfonso Petersen came third in the poll with a disappointing 9.6 percent, confirming how low the party’s fortunes have fallen in the past two years.
Despite receiving wide media coverage in recent weeks as he sought to obtain his registration (see story below), TV celebrity and independent candidate Guillermo Cienfuegos, alias Lagrimita, only garnered the support of 1.5 percent of those polled.
Although legal campaigning is not yet underway, the inevitable battle between the MC and the PRI is already heating up. In the MC stronghold of Tlajomulco, authorities removed a PRI billboard accusing the local government of putting Tlajomulco in debt to pay for its campaigns. “Enough with the lies,” read the billboard.
After the poster was removed on the orders of Tlajomulco city hall, the PRI accused the MC of “institutional censorship.”