The Electoral Tribunal of Mexico ordered on Wednesday that the list of people who aspire to preside over the National Electoral Institute (INE) be integrated exclusively by women, so that for the first time in its history the organization is headed by one of them. This Thursday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has expressed that he thinks it is a good idea. “Women tend to be more honest, more responsible, fairer than men,” said the president.
The Superior Chamber of the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary decided to change the call for the election of four new INE directors because they considered that for the first time the council should be made up of more women. The election process endorsed by the Political Coordination Board of the Chamber of Deputies last week indicated that of all the registries made to occupy the four spaces, which will remain vacant on April 3, four lists of five would have to be formed. people integrated as follows: two lists of only men, one list of only women and the list to elect the president of the INE had to be mixed.
Now, with the court’s decision, that last list will be made up solely of women. “In these cases of uneven bodies, even when there could be a composition close to parity, this is still insufficient to guarantee the right of women to access these positions under equal conditions,” said Judge Monica Soto on the matter.
The procedure for the election of the President of the INE is established in the Mexican Constitution. Article 41 states that both the president and the electoral advisors will be elected by the vote of two thirds of the members present of the Chamber of Deputies, so in theory the current advisors could not register for the call to preside. the Institute, without first having to resign his position. “If one of the current councilors wants to run for the presidency, she would have to resign, the General Council would be left incomplete with the 11 seats because the position of the new president councilor would have to be competed for again,” explains Tito Garza Onofre, a researcher, in a telephone interview. of the Institute of Legal Investigations of the UNAM.
The Law specialist assures that the background is that of the current president of the INE Lorenzo Cordova, who went from being a counselor in the extinct Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) to being a president counselor of the current institute. “There yes, he competed again, but do not confuse that this call was for the legal constitution of a new body, materially it was the same body, but legally it was refounded. Here we have exactly the same organism”, says Garza Onofre.
Last Tuesday, the Technical Committee, which will evaluate the applicants to occupy the four vacant councils in the INE, met for the first time, and reported that five days after publishing the call for the process, 424 people have registered, although only 35 have completed the process and 328 are still in the validation stage. Registration, which is the first stage in the selection process for new directors, will conclude this Thursday at midnight. According to the calendar established in the call, on March 3 the committee will issue the final list of applicants who met the requirements and who will go on to the second phase of the process that corresponds to the evaluation of knowledge.
