For the counselor of the National Electoral Institute (INE), Ciro Murayama, what worries the most about the electoral and political reform proposed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is in whose hands the electoral roll will remain.
“The president’s initiative eliminates the power of the national electoral authority to draw up the voter registry; today the INE does it, and this has been happening since 1990 with the supervision of political parties, now it is up in the air who would do the register and with what mechanisms.
“That is to say, I believe that we could lose the basis of credibility if this matter is not resolved well; without a reliable voter registry there is no reliable election (…) who would do the registry now, the government? With what controls? Would the government then put or remove people from the registry without supervision by political actors? it seems the risk of a setback of more than three decades”, stressed the counselor in an interview.
Currently, Article 41 of the Mexican Constitution indicates, in section V section B, numeral 3, that “it corresponds to the National Electoral Institute in the terms established by this Constitution and the laws (…) the register and the list of voters ” .
The initiative sent by President López Obrador to the Chamber of Deputies specifies that the National Institute of Elections and Consultations, which would replace the current INE, is responsible for “the integration of the nominal list of voters” and the indication that it would be in charge of the electoral register.
The nominal list, it is worth mentioning, is the database in which the citizens who have a valid voter card are mentioned, while the electoral roll contains the names of those who have ever processed their voter card. regardless of whether it is valid or not.
Training
Murayama indicates that a second issue that draws attention is that the permanent territorial structure that the INE currently has in the country is being eliminated.
“It has been permanent for 32 years and is made up of a professional national electoral service, that is, by people who came to their position through public exams, who are trained and evaluated every year and who know that their permanence in office depends on its performance and not whether the party wins, but the elections, now they make it temporary.
“In other words, all the professionalism and experience of the INE throughout the national territory would be suppressed (…) if the permanent structure of the INE disappears, then everyone would be temporary workers hired every three years, that could put the electoral exercise at risk. “, said.
Murayama limited “the electoral reform involves the decision on what the rules of the game are for the dispute over political power, it is a very serious, very delicate agreement on which the legitimacy of the powers depends.”
criminal complaints
On another topic, Murayama indicated that there is no knowledge that the criminal proceedings against the directors have been stopped as a result of a complaint filed by the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Sergio Gutiérrez Luna.
We have not had any notification, the investigation files are open in the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (…) that is, this attempt at persecution initiated by the president of the Chamber of Deputies has not been closed.”
Gutiérrez Luna sued Lorenzo Córdova criminally; Cyrus Murayama; Beatriz Zavala Perez; Dania Paola Ravel; Jose Roberto Ruiz; Jaime Rivera and the Executive Secretary, Edmundo Jacobo.
The foregoing after the initial decision to postpone the Revocation of Mandate consultation due to the lack of budget.