Local candidate assassinated before Mexican elections

Mexico City, June 3 (IANS) Investigation is underway into the murder of a local election candidate which occurred hours before voting began, said the Attorney General's office of the western Mexican state of Michoacan.

Israel Delgado Vega, 35, a member of the coalition Sigamos Haciendo Historia (Let's Keep Making History), a candidate for a government position in the municipality of Cuitzeo, was killed Saturday night by unidentified individuals who shot him from a motorcycle in the town of San Benito Juarez, the office said on Sunday in a statement.

"The perpetrators fled and Israel Delgado died on the spot after the attack," it added as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

The incident took place on Sunday just hours before the beginning of the largest electoral process in the country's history, in which Mexicans will elect a new President.