Goodbye to the INE

The bloc of five electoral councilors that supported Arturo Castillo's proposal to invalidate the election of Supreme Court justices has three members whose terms expire in 11 months. By constitutional design, the renewal of the General Council's Plenary is staggered, but if the ruling party majority implements the electoral reform proposed by the federal executive branch, a complete change of office could occur.

The councilors' excesses earned condemnation from President Claudia Sheinbaum, but also from the leader of the Morena party in San Lázaro, Ricardo Monreal Ávila, who is said to be among the leaders in favor of a complete overhaul of the "horseshoe of democracy."

"The INE has been acting biased, overstepping its bounds, on a whim," the Zacatecas legislator summarized. In three months, he estimated, the presidential initiative will reach the committees and begin its review. And before the end of this year, the electoral reform that failed to materialize during the López Obrador administration must be implemented.

A complete renewal of the General Council is a radical option, but not a distant one. The bloc of councilors opposed to the Fourth Transformation—according to the characterization formulated in the Treasury Room of the National Palace—will be removed gradually or in a single session, depending on what the Legislature decides.

The extraordinary session has one week remaining. Parliamentarians will go on vacation for two months, and the initiative will be processed until September, the opening of the second year of work of the 66th Federal Legislature, and could gain preferential status.

Twenty-five days have passed since the extraordinary election to renew the Judiciary, and the electoral councilors have yet to complete the validation of the democratic exercise. Three and a half weeks have passed, but there is still no certainty about the valid votes or the winning candidates, due to flaws in the methodology used by the INE to verify the eligibility of the successful candidates.

After the review of the candidates' resumes, campaign expenses will be audited and other eligibility requirements, including the 8 out of 8 score, will be checked. The challenges are piling up in the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judicial Branch, which must resolve them quickly.

In the 100 commitments she made after assuming the Presidency of the Republic, Claudia Sheinbaum announced that she would promote debate on the rules of political competition (points 10 and 11).

The prohibition of reelection to elected positions has already been approved by the Legislative Branch and will not take effect until 2030.

The electoral system reform that Sheinbaum will promote from the National Palace will be conditioned by republican austerity. Rather than reducing the prerogatives of political parties, the President wants to further reduce the resources allocated by the INE, both in the organization of electoral processes and in other substantive tasks, primarily the compilation of the voter list and the issuance of photo voting cards.

Before electoral reform, part of the dilemma will be resolved during this extraordinary session of the Legislature. The implementation of a Single Citizen Identity Card that incorporates biometric data will be possible with the implementation of the Agency for Digital Transformation, which will effectively make the Federal Voter Registry obsolete.

The reduction of seats and congressional seats has been on the agenda since the previous six-year term. And when will the digitalization of the ballot boxes take place?