CHILPANCINGO, Mexico – A candidate for mayor of the southern Mexican town of Apaxtla de Castrejon was dragged from his home by three armed intruders, his party said Tuesday.

Marcelo Avila was abducted Monday afternoon, the Guerrero state branch of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, said in a statement.

Apaxtla, a town of roughly 7,000, lies in an area of Guerrero torn by conflict among rival drug cartels.

The PRI state committee demanded an investigation of Avila’s kidnapping and denounced a climate of violence in Guerrero as Mexicans prepare to go to the polls on Sunday.

Last week, an adviser to the mayor of Coyuca de Benitez, Guerrero, was abducted. In that instance, however, the captors demanded a ransom.

Nearly 80 million Mexicans will be eligible to vote for a new president, 628 legislators and thousands of other officials in the July 1 general elections. EFE