Two Mexican political activists shot dead on polling day

Political killings have become almost a daily phenomenon in Mexico during the election season, with at least 145 politicians killed since September, according to consulting firm Etellekt.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador throws his vote during the Mexican presidential election, in which he seems ready to sweep to power. (AFP pic)

MEXICO: Two members of the Mexican political party were shot dead Sunday as the country was holding elections, marking the beginning of a bloody campaign that claimed the lives of 145 political figures.

Flora Resendiz Gonzalez, a member of the Workers' Party in the Western State of Michoacan, died "after she was shot dead at 6:30 (11:30 GMT) while she was at home "In the city of Contepec, local police authorities said.

Later in the day, Fernando Herrera Silva, member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), was shot dead in Acolihuia, in the state of Puebla

"We call on the state to guarantee the security of this electoral process," said the PRI, a statement

Political killings have become almost a daily phenomenon in Mexico this election season, with 145 politicians killed since September, according to consulting firm Etellekt.

This makes it by far the most violent elections in Mexico history. [19659004] The victims included 48 candidates in the running – of which 28 were killed during the campaigns primal and 20 during the general election campaign.

Most murders were committed by local politicians, the most frequent targets of Mexico's powerful drug cartels.

Mexico has been hit by a wave of violence since the government deployed the army to fight drug trafficking in 2006.

Since then, more than 200,000 people have been murdered – although statistics do not reflect the number of

Etellekt's director, Ruben Salazar, said that political violence was motivated by the fragmentation of cartels since the beginning of the war on drugs

"The news cells that emerge. […] get rid of (politicians) with whom they fail to hear, "he told AFP in a recent interview.

Besides choosing their president for the next six years, both houses of Congress are elected, with a total of more than 18,000 federal, state and local positions at stake – the largest elections in the history of the Mexico.