CAMPAIGNING has ended for Mexico’s general election this Sunday — but closing rallies were darkened by attacks on candidates and the country’s persistently high homicide rate.

Opposition candidate Xochitl Galvez started her last campaign rallies early Wednesday on the outskirts of Mexico City, and she focused her attacks on outgoing socialist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s “hugs not bullets” policy on dealing with drug cartels.

Ms Galvez is facing the candidate of Amlo’s Morena party, former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum. 

“Are we going to continue with hugs, or are we going to apply the law to criminals?” Ms Galvez asked.

Ms Sheinbaum, who leads in the race, has promised to continue all of Amlo’s policies. She held her final rally in Mexico City’s vast central square.

“Mexico is respected in the world, it is a reference point,” Ms Sheinbaum said, adding that “Mexico has changed, and for the better.”

She vowed to continue Amlo’s policy of offering apprenticeships to encourage youths not to join drug cartels.

“We will deepen the strategy of peace and security, and the progress that has been made,” she said. “This is not an iron fist... this is justice.”

Killings in Mexico run at more than 30,000 per year nationwide, though rampant drug-trade-related violence long predates the current government.

Gang-fuelled violence has also cast a shadow over the campaigns.

Late on Wednesday, a mayoral candidate, Alfredo Cabrera, was shot dead in the town of Coyuca de Benitez in the violent southern state of Guerrero. 

Local media reported Mr Cabrera was shot in the head at his closing campaign event.

A mayoral candidate in the western state of Jalisco was shot multiple times by intruders in his campaign offices late on Tuesday. 

About 27 candidates have been killed so far this year.