President Barack Obama and likely Republican challenger Mitt Romney will participate in the annual meeting of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials in June in Orlando, Florida.

NALEO, which expects more than 1,000 people at the June 20-23 gathering, confirmed on Wednesday Romney's attendance after already having done the same some days ago with regard to Obama's participation.

Romney will deliver a speech to the conference attendees on June 21, while the president will do so the following day, according to the organization's agenda.

For Obama, this will be the first time that he has attended NALEO's annual meeting since 2008, when he was running for president and courting the Hispanic vote.

Hispanics are the electoral bloc that has grown fastest in the United States in recent years and, according to NALEO, this year calculations are that at least 12.2 million will go to the polls on Nov. 6.

In 2008, Obama obtained 67 percent of the Latino vote compared with the 31 percent that went to his Republican rival, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

A national survey released Wednesday by NBC, The Wall Street Journal and Telemundo, conducted among Latinos, showed that Obama continues to enjoy an advantage over Romney among this critical electoral bloc six months before the election.

According to the survey, Obama leads Romney among Latinos by 61 percent to 27 percent.

This year, the Latino vote will carry special weight in swing states like Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico. EFE