Mexico City, May 12 (IANS): Another mayoral candidate in Mexico has been shot dead in broad daylight, officials said, ahead of the general elections in July.

Jose Remedios Aguirre, running for Mayor of Apaseo el Alto, a town in central Guanajuato state, is the second candidate assassinated this week in the lead up to the polls, Xinhua news agency reported.

Aguirre's body was found at the entrance to a park, said Guanajuato state Attorney General's Office. According to a police report, at least two men shot the victim as he was entering the park. The killers escaped in a car.

Aguirre, 34, a candidate of the left-leaning National Regeneration Movement (Morena), was leading the polls, said Morena's candidate for Guanajuato Governor Ricardo Sheffield.

He said "the motive (of the killing) was clearly political". Aguirre was the former chief of police in Apaseo el Alto, a town of under 65,000 inhabitants.

Last Friday, another Morena's mayoral candidate in the city of Tenango del Aire was killed.