EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – The mayor of Juarez, Mexico, and six of his department heads and close advisers have taken a leave of absence to run for political office.

An interim mayor took the reins of city government on Monday and began swearing in assistants. They’ll hold the fort until a new administration takes office in September or Mayor Cruz Perez Cuellar is re-elected and returns to conclude his first term after June 2.

Interim Mayor Martin Chaparro reassured residents and those who visit or do business in Juarez that things will run smoothly regardless of who’s in office for the next few weeks.

“We are getting to know the personnel and telling them we support them, so they continue to exercise their responsibilities with confidence. It is very important that the job they do for Juarez does not come to a halt. That is very important,” Chaparro said at a news conference.

Perez Cuellar will be on the campaign trail for the next six weeks joined by City Secretary Rafael Ortiz Orpinel, who seeks to become deputy mayor. Five other candidates seek the mayor’s seat: Rogelio Loya of the PRI-PAN-PRD coalition; Maria Esther Mejia of Movimiento Ciudadano; Luis Rodriguez Giner of the Green Party; Jesus Enrique Romanillo of Mexico Republicano; and 26-year-old media influencer Jaime Flores Aguirre, aka “Maquina de Fuego” or “Fire Machine,” of the People’s Party.

Juan Acereto, the City of Juarez’s designated liaison in El Paso, said relations between the two cities will be unaffected by the temporary political flux, and channels of communication remain open should a contingency arise.

“We have a solid, ongoing relationship with Mayor (Oscar) Leeser of El Paso, (Mayor Eric) Enriquez of Las Cruces, Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol, educational institutions, chambers of commerce and others that transcends who is in office at any given time,” Acereto told Border Report.

The former Mexican consul said Juarez’s El Paso liaison office has worked with partners on the U.S. side for seven years to promote a respectful and commercially successful relationship between the two cities. The partners have jointly faced difficult situations such as the Aug. 3 mass shooting at the Walmart near Cielo Vista Mall that killed 23 including several Mexican citizens, and the ongoing migrant humanitarian crisis at the border.

Acereto said El Paso and Juarez also continue to work on the “Se Busca Informacion” public safety initiative. It is a binational, multi-agency collaboration to track down the border’s most wanted criminals that a few months ago netted the arrest of at least four high-profile murderers and drug cartel leaders.

As for the migrant crisis, Chaparro named Santiago Gonzalez Reyes, who, as head of the Human Rights Office, was in charge of migrant services and municipal shelters, as his city secretary — traditionally the mayor’s right-hand person.