Cut to the INE would impact the elections of 2023 and 2024

Former electoral advisers Arturo Sánchez Gutiérrez and Jaime Cárdenas Gracia agreed that if the cut for the National Electoral Institute (INE) for more than 4,000 million pesos materializes, it would jeopardize actions such as training of poll workers, updating voter credentials and until the organization and execution of the 2023 elections in Coahuila and the State of Mexico, as well as the presidential succession of 2024.

Interviewed, the former IFE counselor, Arturo Sánchez, described as complex that the Chamber of Deputies foresees a cut for the electoral authority in 2023, just when an electoral reform that would have a budgetary impact is also being analyzed.

He exemplified that if the Local Public Electoral Organizations disappeared, there would be savings, which would have to be transferred to the new national electoral authority due to the increase in their functions, and he stated that the political actors should already have the rules with which they will compete in 2023 and 2024.

He stated that an eventual cut of more than 4,000 million pesos, as proposed by the majority of Morena in the Chamber of Deputies, could impact the updating of the Federal Electoral Registry.

“Putting a clipping in the wrong place could result in the quality of the election lacking,” he warned.

Arturo Sánchez stressed that, unlike last year, now the Chamber of Deputies will have to argue the reasons for the cut and specify the items, as ordered by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN).

He recalled that the Electoral Institute requested resources for a possible referendum next year, so if the government agrees not to promote it, then the INE “can survive.”

They ask to take care of control

Interviewed separately, the former IFE councilor, Jaime Cárdenas, warned that if the cut proposed by the majority of Morena is not “surgical” it will impact substantial activities of the electoral body, for which he asked legislators to take care of issues such as party oversight. , electoral training and the organization of the elections in Coahuila and the State of Mexico, as well as the preparations for the 2024 presidential succession.

“It is an exclusive power of the Chamber of Deputies, there is a sentence of the SCJN, which established that the spending cuts are justified.

“What I would say is that you do have to be careful, I suppose that the deputies will have information about superfluous expenses, travel expenses. I would expect the cut to be for those expenses that are not for essential activities and not for campaign oversight.

“I hope they don’t do like last year, a general cut, because it wouldn’t be reasonable, because there is also the Court ruling. If it is something like what happened last year, it is not a good message to the INE or to the electoral processes. You have to be careful with those cuts,” he maintained.

He indicated that the risks that it can cause are, “for example, that the electoral training is more superficial, that it is not carried out as it should be, and that would mean that the poll workers will have less training and support from the electoral authority.

“That can affect the credentialing process, that there is enough money for the federal voter registry, that instead of issuing 100% of credentials, 70% is issued, with which the right to vote of many would be violated. citizens.

“There may be these kinds of very negative consequences, but we have to wait, hopefully they do something reasonable, not a little logical against sense,” he required.

jorge.monroy@eleconomista.mx