The president of the National Electoral Institute (INE), Lorenzo Córdova, exposed the disqualifications and threats of the federal government, in the Regional Forum for the Americas of the Summit on Electoral Democracy.

In his participation, the adviser to the president maintained that in Mexico there is a “harassment” towards the electoral authority, which, according to him, has become more innovative and dangerous when it comes from the public power.

For example, he argued that of 869 morning statements by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, out of 299 he spoke about the INE and 63% were direct attacks.

He also highlighted the threats made by Morena Senator Félix Salgado Macedonio, made in April 2021, after the INE decided to withdraw his candidacy for the government of Guerrero for not presenting pre-campaign expenses.

He also pointed to the “budgetary asphyxiation” of the institute, which in 2021 began a legal battle to receive sufficient resources to carry out the revocation exercise. Although the INE organized the consultation with fewer polling stations than planned before the cut, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) ruled that the Chamber of Deputies had not justified the amount granted to the electoral body.

He even pointed the finger at the president’s electoral reform proposal, as an attempt to relieve the INE and limit its functions.

“It is a way of threatening the authorities and leading to a capture of the electoral system, an attack on fairness and the party system and a fracture of representative capacity,” he said.

The President’s Electoral Reform Initiative proposes radical changes to the Mexican electoral system, which have an impact on the configuration of the Federal Congress and in the States, the financing of political parties, the integration of electoral bodies (the INE and the TEPJF) and the model of political communication by which parties access radio and television time.

The proposal requires the vote of two-thirds of the chambers.