President Andrés Manuel López Obrador celebrated the decision of the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judicial Branch (TEPJF), because he said that this determination guarantees that there will be a consultation to revoke the mandate next year.
López Obrador said that the Ministries of Finance and the Interior should analyze if they can give the INE additional resources for that exercise, from the Institute to Give Back to the People the Stolen.
He warned, however, that the electoral body must first make an adjustment to its budget. During his morning conference at the National Palace, López Obrador stated that:
“Yesterday’s resolution is very important because what is clear (…) is what must be known, shouting from the rooftops, is that there will be a consultation, that is yesterday’s resolution. That is the essence. There is an addition, which is not the fundamental thing, because the main thing that the query is made. (…) It is said that the INE, to make the consultation, has to make an adjustment to its budget to finance, release funds from its budget ”.
The president asked that the INE carry out a review of its budget in travel expenses, purchase or rental of automobiles, fuel, consultants, travel and salaries; and then determine how much money you would need to complete the consultation.
“And now that the Treasury sees if it has, if it can, if it has the possibility also according to the priorities, because it is necessary to continue helping those who need it, how much could it help, if there is a possibility of doing it without affecting any program”, the president raised.
“Now you have to see that bad money is being collected, that is falling not from taxes, but from fraud, to the Institute to Give Back to the People the Stolen, from there something can come out and then a lot of money from extortion is also falling, from there it can support itself if it cannot really with the adjustment, with the austerity plan the INE “, said .
The Secretary of the Interior, Adán Augusto López, said that the TEPJF ruling does not oblige the Treasury to deliver an additional budget to the INE, but to respond in a timely manner whether or not it can do so.
Last night the Electoral Court of the Federal Judicial Branch (TEPJF) determined that the National Electoral Institute (INE) lacks the powers to interrupt the phases of the mandate revocation process, for which it urged it to continue with the procedure, and linked the Secretary of Finance respond to the budgetary needs of the electoral body, even under austerity measures.
Unanimously, the court established that the General Council of the INE lacks powers to postpone or interrupt the process of revocation of mandate, because according to the law, it must implement the measures it deems appropriate for its organization, and the only regulatory assumption that The justification for its interruption is the breach of constitutional and legal requirements such as not reaching 3% of the nominal list of voters or that the request does not correspond to at least 17 states.
He indicated that the INE’s budget insufficiency does not justify postponing the process, in addition to the fact that the legal provisions of the mandate revocation law established that the electoral body must carry out the necessary budgetary adjustments.
The court said that postponing the work affects the rights of citizens to participate in this democratic exercise.
The TEPJF determined that the INE only argued the lack of resources, but did not demonstrate the impossibility of adopting other budgetary measures, hence the budget insufficiency is not a force majeure that justifies the postponement of the revocation stages.
It also established that the INE must make the necessary budgetary adjustments for scheduled activities and in case of having a budget insufficiency, it must carry out the necessary procedures before the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) to request an extension to its budget, an authority that must found and motivate your response.
