With the vote in favor of Morena, and the Labor and Green Ecologist parties of Mexico, the Chamber of Deputies approved at dawn this Wednesday a package of reforms to the secondary laws on electoral matters, known as the plan B of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, after the rejection of his initiative that on the same issue proposed modifying the Constitution.
The reforms, which were endorsed with 267 votes in favor, 219 against and no abstentions, they include the General Law of Electoral Institutions and Procedures; the General Law of Political Parties; the Organic Law of the Judiciary of the Federation; General Law of Social Communication, and the General Law of Administrative Responsibilities, in addition to a new General Law of the Means of Challenge in Electoral Matters.
The opposition deputies to Morena decided to withdraw from the session, which began after 11 p.m. on Tuesday, after stating their position in disagreement with the president’s initiatives, which they considered as “an attempt to sabotage the electoral process of 2024”.
However, they voted against through their electronic devices, since the session was held in the mixed modality, face-to-face in the legislative hall, and remotely through the Internet.
These changes, which must now be approved by the Senate, intervene in the autonomy of the National Electoral Institute (INE), they propose a restructuring of their internal organs and directions, which will bring the dismissal of hundreds of workers; they eliminate the professional career service of the INE, and order that no director receive a remuneration higher than that of the president.
In the same way, the functions of the Local Electoral Public Organizations (OPLES) are compacted, which must also reduce their staff; the trusts created by the INE to face labor liabilities are cancelled; The contracting of medical expenses insurance is prohibited, and the start dates for the electoral processes are modified.
Regarding this, instead of the federal elections beginning to be organized in the month of September, as is currently the case, these activities are carried out in the third week of November of the year prior to the election.
Regarding INE budgetary resources, this body is prohibited from “allocating savings, savings or remnants” to the constitution or operation of trusts, and in the event that there are sub-exercises or savings, these must be returned to the Treasury of the Federation, since “the Institute is prohibited from disbursing, reassigning or creating new programs or projects charged to savings and savings” from its budget.
Migrants and prisoners benefited
Likewise, what was approved by the deputies will allow Mexicans living abroad to vote without the credential issued to all citizens by the INE, guaranteeing that this population can afford only with your passport.
The reform to the General Law of Electoral Institutions and Procedures also establishes that people who are in unofficial pretrial detention vote, that is, those who have not been sentenced, for which reason the INE must provide what is necessary to guarantee this right to arrested.
A similar mandate is established for the INE in the case of “persons with permanent disabilities or in a state of prostration”, who may vote at their own home on a date close to election day, before they are carried out. general voting.
Less penalties
The new provisions approved in the Chamber of Deputies limit the normative interpretation of the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary (TEPJF), stating that the “administrative or jurisdictional sanctions in electoral matters” must be applied under the principle of strict law (to the letter of the laws), and “cannot be imposed by simple analogy or by majority of reason”.
In the same sense, “in no case may political-electoral rights or prerogatives of the citizenry be suspended due to administrative or judicial sanctions (sic) different from the penal ones”, which means that, if any citizen transgresses the laws in this matter, there will be no type of sanction, unless the conduct is an electoral crime.
It is also prohibited for the INE and the Electoral Tribunal to cancel candidacies as a sanction for applicants who commit a serious offense, while Government propaganda is allowed during election periods.
On the other hand, the reform adds a prohibition to political parties and candidates, who -before this reform- could not slander people in their dissemination campaigns. Now nor may they disseminate “expressions that slander people, political parties or governments emanating from these”.
Regarding the fines imposed by the INE on political parties, which are paid by cutting the budget allocated to these organizations, the reform also limits the powers of the electoral authority by preventing these budgetary resources from being altered.
As far as the electoral results are concerned, the Preliminary Electoral Results Program (PREP) disappears, and the obligation is introduced so that the official counting of the votes begins the same Sunday that the elections are held, after the polls close. Currently, the official counting of the votes is carried out on the Wednesday following the day of the election.
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surya palaces Journalist and lawyer, specialist in legal analysis and human rights. She has been a reporter, radio host and editor.