THE RULING political party facing defeat in Sunday's elections has made its strongest attack 59 far on its former leader and president, Mr Carlos Salinas de Gortari, now living in exile in Ireland. Mr Salinas has denied widespread allegations of being responsible for corruption during his presidential term.
Mr Salinas's brother, Raul, is in jail in Mexico facing charges of corruption and conspiracy to murder.
On the closing day of the campaign, Mr Alfredo del Mazo, who is the candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) for mayor of Mexico City, accused Mr Carlos Salinas of "inexcusable abuses" while he was president and party leader between 1988 and 1994.
This is the most outspoken PRI attack on Mr Salinas so far. The party has been trying to distance itself from him and has postponed a decision on whether to expel him until after Sunday's voting.
Some political observers believe that Mr Salinas still has influence on the PRI behind the scenes, and the party fears that this will damage its prospects in the elections. Polls show the PRI could lose the first ever election for mayor of the capital and possibly its majority in the lower house of Congress.
Mr del Mazo ran unsuccessfully against Mr Salinas to be the PRI candidate in 1988. He told a final press conference thal "we had a fundamental difference of opinion and I still do not agree with the way in which he exercised power".
This distancing himself from Mr Salinas looks too late to help Mr del Mazo narrow the gap with the strong favourite to win the mayoral contest, Mr Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, who also ran against Mr Salinas for president in 1988 and was narrowly defeated.
It was widely believed at the time that the results were rigged to ensure the defeat of Mr Cardenas.
A win on Sunday will give Mr Cardenas control over the capital with its nine million inhabitants and also provide him with a launching pad for the next Presidential election in 2000.
As the official campaign closed there were accusations of foul play although the new independent Federal Election Institute which is overseeing the elections is quoted as saying that "not even the most remote possibility of electoral fraud exists".
Opposition parties fear, however, that the PRI which has held power in Congress, the capital and most of the provinces for almost 70 years will use its formidable machine to buy votes or intimidate voters dependent on the party's enormous patronage powers.