AMLO’s electoral reform will reduce the INE staff by 85% and would affect the updating of the voters’ register

The National Electoral Institute (INE) released its report on the implications of the reforms to the secondary laws in electoral matters (Plan B) that approved a majority of Morena in the Congress of the Union at the initiative of the president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

He pointed out that of the 2,571 posts and posts that currently make up the structure of the National Electoral Professional Service (SPEN), the reform only contemplates maintaining 396 positions, which means a decrease in the structure of 84.6% compared to the current structure.

“The replacement of professional personnel by temporary contracts, of people who will not have undergone strict selection processes such as the public competition for admission to the SPEN, will not guarantee the independence, professionalism, technical solvency and commitment of those who are recruited on a regular basis. occasional,” he warned.

He stressed that the reform strongly impacts the finances of the INEsince it proposes to liquidate thousands of workers, who by law have the legal right to receive three months of their remuneration and an additional 20 days for each year of service.

“This represents a frank affectation of the labor rights of personnel who came to office by public tenderwhich is evaluated, permanently trained and trained, from which he performs his job in adherence to the principles of independence and autonomy. Thus, the reform compromises the substantive work of the INE to organize authentic elections”, he pointed out.

He explained that the reform General Law of Electoral Institutions and Procedures (LEGIPE) contemplates the organizational restructuring of the INE in its decentralized bodies, and eliminates the 300 District Executive Boards (JED) that are in charge of carrying out the substantive work, throughout the national territory, for the preparation, organization and holding of elections.

“Instead of these 300 collegiate executive bodies, it is proposed that there be, in the best of cases, a Auxiliary Office occupied by a single person (operative spokesperson) that would have, under its responsibility, the legal tasks that today correspond, as established by the constitution, to non-unipersonal executive bodies.

“Also, it is contemplated reduce the structure of the 32 Local Executive Boards that from five committees -the same as those of the District Executive Boards since their functions are similar to comply with the powers of the INE- they go to three committees by eliminating the Secretariat Committee and merging that of Electoral Organization with that of Training and Civic Education, cutting 262 positions, 96 of which are from the National Electoral Professional Service (SPEN)”, he highlighted.

He indicated that the reform directly affects the updating of the Electoral Roll and the electoral cartography. “The integrity of both instruments would be compromised in terms of their quality and scope and the procedures associated with them, particularly at the district level, since it affects the bond of citizens with the Mexican State (represented in this case by the INE),” he stated. he.

He added that at the district level update tasks are injured of the Electoral Register and the Voters’ Nominal List, the purification of the same, as well as the supervision and follow-up of the activities carried out by the Citizen Attention Modules (MAC), which is where citizens process their credentials to vote.

And it is that the reform proposes that the MAC be installed in government offices, schools or health centers, “where there is no guarantee that the infrastructure exists computing, transmission and safeguarding of data that allow the protection of sensitive personal data such as photographs and fingerprints of each citizen.

The report asserted that the disappearance of the training members in the 300 electoral districts implies damaging the permanent civic education tasks and, above all, not having the personnel in charge of training 12 million citizens each federal election to integrate the Board of Directors of Casilla.

“In each district, on average, 550 polling booths are installed every time there are elections, and 40,000 citizens are visited at their homes to act as polling booth officials. The specialized personnel in charge of this task simply disappears with the reform that compromises the installation of the boxes and, with this, it risks the exercise of the citizen’s right to vote”, he highlighted.

He pointed out that doing without these electoral organization professionals in the 300 districts and in the 32 entities compromises full respect for suffrage in Mexico.

The report recalled that the reform abolishes the General Executive Board of the INE, to be replaced by an Administration Commission made up of five electoral advisers, which it considered to be contrary to the Constitution, because it distinguishes between management bodies and executive bodies.

It will affect electoral procedures

The document showed that the so-called “Plan B” it proposes a series of changes that affect the organization of the elections, to the degree of affecting the exercise of the electoral function, as well as the effective exercise of the political-electoral rights of citizens.

He explained that it delays both the start of the Federal Electoral Process and the installation of local and district councils. “Instead of starting the pre-election activities during the first week of September, as is the case today, it postpones it to the third week of November of the previous election year,” he said.

He said that the times to recruit and train electoral assistants are also reduced and, consequently, the quality of the integration and training of the civil service that integrates the Polling Stations is compromised, receiving and counting the citizen’s vote.

He specified that in the election year of the Presidency of the Republic, it runs from the beginning of the pre-campaigns from November to the third week of December, but does not reduce its duration of 60 days or the terms for the registration of candidacies, which would imply that there is no space between the end of the pre-campaigns and the registration of candidacies to carry out internal party elections or to resolve possible challenges.

The INE analysis also affects the electoral control model, since the Technical Control Unit (UTF) becomes the Executive Directorate, which it considered to be contrary to the Constitution, which establishes that the UTF must enjoy technical autonomy, the which he would lose by becoming Executive Director.

“The reform proposal establishes that, in no case, political-electoral rights or prerogatives of citizens may be suspended derived from administrative or judicial sanctions other than criminal ones, which modifies article 229, paragraph 4 of LEGIPE and eliminates the sanction related to the loss of pre-candidacy or candidacy registrationin the cases in which the expense report is omitted, or the limit of these is exceeded, ”he said.

“Thus, the parties could establish strategies aimed at breaking the equality in the contest through expensive campaigns without losing the nomination. And only the economic sanction established in the current regulations is left, which consists of a limit of 5,000 Units of Measurement and Update, the maximum sanction allowed, as long as the economic capacity allows it.

“The reform proposal provides that the INE may only oversee electoral processes and citizen participation or consultation, as well as ordinary activities of the political party system, in which it is expressly empowered, removing from its sphere of competence the possibility to supervise processes such as the Revocation of Mandate or others not provided for in the legislation”, he said.

Alert of possible use of public resources in campaigns, and interference by public servants

Regarding the modifications to the General Law of Social Communication (LGCS), published on December 27, 2022said that they give government propaganda a predominantly budgetary aspect, in such a way that what is not labeled 12 as such by the obligated public entities will not be considered propaganda, even if it implies the use of public resources.

According to Article 134 of the Constitution, propaganda, under any form of social communication, disseminated by public powers, autonomous bodies, public administration agencies and entities and any other entity of the three levels of government, must be institutional in nature and for informational purposes. , educational or socially oriented. It also provides that, in no case, this type of advertising will include names, images, voices or symbols that imply personalized promotion of any public servant.

He affirmed that the so-called “Plan B” does not consider propaganda to the promotion not labeled budgetarily as such or through demonstrations by public servants “in use of their freedom of expression” or in the exercise of their public functions.

“Thus, this reform alters the concept of government propaganda, contravening the constitutional precept that establishes that all government propaganda must be suspended during electoral campaigns and until the end of election day. The expressions of governors in favor or against candidates may be carried out under this legislation, which, however, is contrary to articles 41 and 134 of the Constitution”, he indicated.

It should be noted that the legal reforms in electoral matters (Plan B) that a majority of Morena approved in the Congress of the Union, establishes changes to the General Law of Social Communication and Law of Public Responsibilities, which have already been enacted, and are pending. of enacting the changes to the General Law of Electoral Institutions and Procedures, Law of Political Parties, Law of Means of Impugnation and Organic Law of the Judiciary of the Federation.

jorge.monroy@eleconomista.mx