* IFE rejected the left's request to push forward an audit the presidential campaign. Instead it will be held at a much later point, and certainly after the inauguration.
* Against the protests of IFE councilor Alfredo Figueroa, IFE voted 8-1 to exonerate Peña Nieto and Televisa from any accusations of illegal or covert campaign in favor of the PRI candidate, despite the exposes of the newspaper The Guardian of a pact between the newscaster and PRI to actively promote his candidacy. No Televisa employee was asked to testify. Figueroa noted, "It is obvious that no investigation was done in order to get closer to the elements of this case."
*IFE fined the left's Movimiento Progresista 1.5 million pesos over an ad called "Thousands of proofs" deeming it injurious to PRI and Peña Nieto. Days earlier it had rejected any fine and allowed it in the name of free speech. Alfredo Figueroa, Lorenzo Córdova and Benito Nacif voted against; council president Leonardo Valdés and the remaining councilors voted in favor. Valdés has particularly the past year increasingly appeared unfriendly to the PRD, to put it mildly, which likely regrets its original backing of him to become IFE president.
Together, the incidents have led PRD leader Zambrano to suggest outright that IFE favors the PRI.
Source:
Inconforma a la izquierda decisión del IFE. La Jornada, Aug. 15, 2012
Zambrano: IFE favorece al PRI. El Universal, Aug. 18, 2012
Exculpa el IFE a Peña Nieto y Televisa por campaña encubierta. La Jornada, Aug. 17, 2012
El instituto multa con casi millón y medio al Movimiento Progresista. La Jornada, Aug. 17, 2012
Showing posts with label Leonardo Valdés. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leonardo Valdés. Show all posts
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Why is IFE's Valdes provoking the left?
Strange days at Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute, IFE. Relations were already strained with the left given some quite erratic earlier comments from the president of IFE's general council, Leonardo Valdés, and they will not be better after this:
- The IFE president, highly unusually, took on the role as defender of Mexico's polling agencies, lauding them for their methodology and professionalism, despite the obvious poor performance of quite a few of them ahead of this election. This contradicted earlier statements from IFE that IFE had no role to play or nothing to say regarding the performance of pollsters.
- Valdés went on to directly respond to a criticism from PRD's representative, sarcastically pointing out that if the left was so critical of GEA-ISA, which consistently inflated Peña Nieto's real support upwards of 18 or so percent, why didn't it complain about its polls in Mexico City, where the left one? This is a complete non sequitur if there ever was one, on so many levels, and a frivolous question that the IFE head even repeated on two occasions.
Why is Valdés so bent on provoking the left?
Source: Defiende Valdés los sondeos de GEA- ISA y critica al representante del PRD. La Jornada, July 27, 2012.
- The IFE president, highly unusually, took on the role as defender of Mexico's polling agencies, lauding them for their methodology and professionalism, despite the obvious poor performance of quite a few of them ahead of this election. This contradicted earlier statements from IFE that IFE had no role to play or nothing to say regarding the performance of pollsters.
- Valdés went on to directly respond to a criticism from PRD's representative, sarcastically pointing out that if the left was so critical of GEA-ISA, which consistently inflated Peña Nieto's real support upwards of 18 or so percent, why didn't it complain about its polls in Mexico City, where the left one? This is a complete non sequitur if there ever was one, on so many levels, and a frivolous question that the IFE head even repeated on two occasions.
Why is Valdés so bent on provoking the left?
Source: Defiende Valdés los sondeos de GEA- ISA y critica al representante del PRD. La Jornada, July 27, 2012.
Friday, December 16, 2011
14 months late, Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) complete
It's about damn time. At last, the Chamber of deputies came to an agreement to appoint, with the required 2/3 majority, the last three IFE councilors ahead of 2012. None voted against; a handful of PT legislators abstained.
They are:
* Sergio García Ramírez, former attorney general, and judge at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
* María Marván Laborde, Ph.D from New School, now with the federal IFAI (institute for access to information and data protection)
* Lorenzo Córdova Vianello, Ph.D, law expert and researcher at UNAM.
This is excellent new, met with near unison approval from the various legislative leaders, as well as IFE president Leonardo Valdés. It's embarrassing, though, that it took the Chamber so long to get to this, and only under intense pressure from the federal electoral tribunal (TEPJF).
They are:
* Sergio García Ramírez, former attorney general, and judge at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
* María Marván Laborde, Ph.D from New School, now with the federal IFAI (institute for access to information and data protection)
* Lorenzo Córdova Vianello, Ph.D, law expert and researcher at UNAM.
This is excellent new, met with near unison approval from the various legislative leaders, as well as IFE president Leonardo Valdés. It's embarrassing, though, that it took the Chamber so long to get to this, and only under intense pressure from the federal electoral tribunal (TEPJF).
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
IFE's Leonardo Valdés criticizes PRD's method for selecting its 2012 candidate
IFE's Leonardo Valdés has done and said many things as head of IFE's general council (often referred to as IFE's "president") that I can't quite figure the logic behind.
Another recent example: Two days ago he declared that PRD's method of selecting its 2012 presidential candidate was "not included in its statutes" and appeared very critical of this.
Yet it should be well known, as PRD president Jesús Zambrano points out in today's papers, that PRD's National Congress - its highest organ, which meets around every three years - decided just a few weeks ago to accept this method - and anyone can duly go to the PRD's home page (http://www.prd.org.mx/portal/) and find the party's basic documents and congress proceedings for themselves.
Hence, I don't quite get Valdés' opposition. To recall, Valdés was elected a councilor and then IFE president with the PRD's blessing - I am not so sure he enjoys the same level of support today. That is not a good thing ahead of the 2012 election season.
Another recent example: Two days ago he declared that PRD's method of selecting its 2012 presidential candidate was "not included in its statutes" and appeared very critical of this.
Yet it should be well known, as PRD president Jesús Zambrano points out in today's papers, that PRD's National Congress - its highest organ, which meets around every three years - decided just a few weeks ago to accept this method - and anyone can duly go to the PRD's home page (http://www.prd.org.mx/portal/) and find the party's basic documents and congress proceedings for themselves.
Hence, I don't quite get Valdés' opposition. To recall, Valdés was elected a councilor and then IFE president with the PRD's blessing - I am not so sure he enjoys the same level of support today. That is not a good thing ahead of the 2012 election season.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Ominous sign for 2012: Mexico's electoral institute feuds
More on the internal troubles of Mexico's Instituto Federal Electoral (IFE), from a La Jornada report:
Not only is IFE, responsible for arranging Mexico's federal elections, missing three councilors yet to be appointed by congress, but finds itself completely divided 3-3 in bitter internal feud. The main protagonists are IFE president Leonardo Valdés vs. Marco Antonio Baños and Francisco Guerrero, who now fight about virtually everything, in an increasingly bitter tone. The latter two are close to PRI and operate essentially as the party's agents, yet Valdés is also facing criticism from PRD, originally positive toward his election, and PAN, for his leadership style, and decisions taken.
A very, very ominous sign for 2012 that begs repeating.
Not only is IFE, responsible for arranging Mexico's federal elections, missing three councilors yet to be appointed by congress, but finds itself completely divided 3-3 in bitter internal feud. The main protagonists are IFE president Leonardo Valdés vs. Marco Antonio Baños and Francisco Guerrero, who now fight about virtually everything, in an increasingly bitter tone. The latter two are close to PRI and operate essentially as the party's agents, yet Valdés is also facing criticism from PRD, originally positive toward his election, and PAN, for his leadership style, and decisions taken.
A very, very ominous sign for 2012 that begs repeating.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
The cost of Mexico's 2012 election: 16 billion pesos. Church weighs in.
Mexico's federal electoral institute (IFE) has requested almost 16 billion pesos for the 2012 presidential election. This whopping sim is particularly notable as the 2007-08 electoral reform had as one of its main goals to reduce the cost of elections, principally due to only allowing parties to contract tv/radio advertisements through slots allotted to them by IFE, rather than purchasing themselves at a massive cost.
Head of IFE Leonardo Valdés defended the cost - 30 percent higher than in 2006 - as a product of IFE's new functions that include, among others, much more expanded media monitoring, but also due to increased insecurity as a product of the fight with and between drug gangs. He also insists that the institute is ready for 2012, though public approval of - and faith in - IFE has been dropping notably in recent months.
Some of this may be attributed to the Catholic church, which demanded that the institute be a representative of citizens and not of parties, while it denounced the IFE's rising operating costs. The church also attacked the "restrictive laws" of 2007 that it claims restrict freedom of expression, even though it was not passed by IFE but by Congress and IFE merely has to follow the new legislation. It also conspicuously made no mention of the recent IFE/TEPJF verdict that the Archdiocese broke the law in its attack on the PRD.
One of church's points is well taken, though: It criticized the lack of autonomy of state electoral institutes and their ease of manipulation vis-a-vis state governors. This is truly an increasing problem that was noted by several of IFE's councilors I interviewed last summer.
Head of IFE Leonardo Valdés defended the cost - 30 percent higher than in 2006 - as a product of IFE's new functions that include, among others, much more expanded media monitoring, but also due to increased insecurity as a product of the fight with and between drug gangs. He also insists that the institute is ready for 2012, though public approval of - and faith in - IFE has been dropping notably in recent months.
Some of this may be attributed to the Catholic church, which demanded that the institute be a representative of citizens and not of parties, while it denounced the IFE's rising operating costs. The church also attacked the "restrictive laws" of 2007 that it claims restrict freedom of expression, even though it was not passed by IFE but by Congress and IFE merely has to follow the new legislation. It also conspicuously made no mention of the recent IFE/TEPJF verdict that the Archdiocese broke the law in its attack on the PRD.
One of church's points is well taken, though: It criticized the lack of autonomy of state electoral institutes and their ease of manipulation vis-a-vis state governors. This is truly an increasing problem that was noted by several of IFE's councilors I interviewed last summer.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
IFE's president demands appointment of three missing councilors
OK, not missing as in lost in the wilderness, but for all practical effects, pretty close:
Quite amazingly, given that the 2012 race has all but started, and that IFE will now have considerably more tasks than in 2006, following the 2007-8 electoral reform: The Mexican Chamber of Deputies still has not appointed three new councilors missing on the IFE's general council, following the departure of three many, many months ago - I am not even sure of how long IFE has been operating with only 6 councilors. But what I do know is that this is technically unconstitutional, and that the Chamber of Deputies - and principally PRI, which demands to appoint two out the three - is not doing its job.
IFE president Leonardo Valdés again called on congress to do this as soon as possible, as time is running out - for la grande, the 2012 presidential one, but also 15(!) gubernatorial elections that year. Given the expansions of IFE's functions, they really need all hands on deck here.
Quite amazingly, given that the 2012 race has all but started, and that IFE will now have considerably more tasks than in 2006, following the 2007-8 electoral reform: The Mexican Chamber of Deputies still has not appointed three new councilors missing on the IFE's general council, following the departure of three many, many months ago - I am not even sure of how long IFE has been operating with only 6 councilors. But what I do know is that this is technically unconstitutional, and that the Chamber of Deputies - and principally PRI, which demands to appoint two out the three - is not doing its job.
IFE president Leonardo Valdés again called on congress to do this as soon as possible, as time is running out - for la grande, the 2012 presidential one, but also 15(!) gubernatorial elections that year. Given the expansions of IFE's functions, they really need all hands on deck here.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Yet another bad omen for 2012: IFE councilors attack own president
It may be exaggerated to call it a civil war, as IFE's Marco Antonio Baños and Francisco Guerrero make out a "dynamic duo" that for a long time has consistently defended the PRI rather than Mexican democracy as councilors of Mexico's federal electoral institute, but it certainly does not bode well for IFE's future stability that said councilors launch a full broadside against their own boss, IFE president Leonardo Valdés, in media, directly claiming that he really does not know about IFE´s internal work, being more busy with international conferences and backing a proposed political reform, rather than engaging himself in IFE´s preparations for 2012.
Whoever is right here, it´s a bad omen for 2012.
Whoever is right here, it´s a bad omen for 2012.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Another shot fired in IFE's internal war: Comptroller General's salary
Things are stormy in Mexico's electoral institute, Instituto Federal Electoral (IFE), these days. IFE is still three councilors short, given the Chamber of Deputies' failure to agree on three new replacements, and various reports have been flying around in misuse of funds, most recently when IFE allegedly paid more than five times the market value for a building.
The latter issue, and other possible irregularities was raised by IFE's comptroller general, Gregorio Guerrero Pozas, who has also earlier denounced IFE functionaries of an attempt in 2009 to raise their salaries.
It goes perhaps without saying that reations with IFE president Leonardo Valdés have been less than harmonious. And now, another shot fired, yet this time against comptroller Guerrero: His very, very high salary. Indeed, as El Universal reports, he pulls home a hefty 200,985 pesos in monthly salary, or roughly $17,000 per month. Not only that: Guerrero's salary might be illegally high, as it even surpasses that of an IFE executive director.
I am not sure who is right or wrong here - whether Guerrero is on a misguided warpath against IFE, or whether Leonardo Valdés truly has been an incompetent president in administrative matters. Yet as Mexico approaches the 2012 federal election, and with crucial state elections barely two months away, I have a hard time seeing any positive fallout from IFE's internal war for Mexico's democracy.
The latter issue, and other possible irregularities was raised by IFE's comptroller general, Gregorio Guerrero Pozas, who has also earlier denounced IFE functionaries of an attempt in 2009 to raise their salaries.
It goes perhaps without saying that reations with IFE president Leonardo Valdés have been less than harmonious. And now, another shot fired, yet this time against comptroller Guerrero: His very, very high salary. Indeed, as El Universal reports, he pulls home a hefty 200,985 pesos in monthly salary, or roughly $17,000 per month. Not only that: Guerrero's salary might be illegally high, as it even surpasses that of an IFE executive director.
I am not sure who is right or wrong here - whether Guerrero is on a misguided warpath against IFE, or whether Leonardo Valdés truly has been an incompetent president in administrative matters. Yet as Mexico approaches the 2012 federal election, and with crucial state elections barely two months away, I have a hard time seeing any positive fallout from IFE's internal war for Mexico's democracy.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Elba Ester Gordillo's SNTE-PANAL stoops to new low: Get them while they're young
It really is quite a scandal, and should have some serious repercussions: The party PANAL, an electoral outfit based in the SNTE teacher's union that came into being when Gordillo was kicked out of the PRI and brought her PRI-affiliated teacher groups with her, has seemingly engaged in a blatant breach of electoral law in Baja California Sur - as well as crossing any remaining moral boundary - by handing out, through its SNTE cadres, school material for children at the primary level that included logos of PANAL and in Kim Il-Sung-style exalted Gordillo's party - all with the benediction of teachers and the administration of the schools.
Baja Calfornia Sur is having elections in a few weeks time, and what better way to get to voters than to hand out election material to children - most likely financed by taxpayers - so that they can bring it home to mom and dad and tell them how great PANAL is? Well, there is another one: Include a little note that asks for their name, last name, street, house number, municipality, state, borough, area code, phone number, and email, or that of "one of their parents."
Even the most cursory glance at PANAL's actions makes it obvious that it violates not only electoral law, but also Mexico's legal code.
Jesús Ortega, national president of the PRD, argued PANAL should lose its national registry as party.
Manuel Espino, former PAN leader, condemned the use of primary schools for electoral proselytizing; current PAN leader Gustavo Madero echoed Ortega's call for PANAL to lose its official registry.
Let's not forget as well that the party is violating any right of the children to privacy and protection of personal data, even potentially putting their lives and those of their parents in danger
President of the federal electoral institute (IFE), Leonardo Valdés, said IFE would seek to corraborate the information before deciding what to do. Let's hope they act fast: The actions of PANAL, and SNTE, must have consequences, if the law is to appear to have any weight and value at all.
Could one also be allowed to hope, just for a moment, that the increasing calls for leader-for-life of SNTE, Elba Esther Gordillo to renounce her position might actually be heeded?
Baja Calfornia Sur is having elections in a few weeks time, and what better way to get to voters than to hand out election material to children - most likely financed by taxpayers - so that they can bring it home to mom and dad and tell them how great PANAL is? Well, there is another one: Include a little note that asks for their name, last name, street, house number, municipality, state, borough, area code, phone number, and email, or that of "one of their parents."
Even the most cursory glance at PANAL's actions makes it obvious that it violates not only electoral law, but also Mexico's legal code.
Jesús Ortega, national president of the PRD, argued PANAL should lose its national registry as party.
Manuel Espino, former PAN leader, condemned the use of primary schools for electoral proselytizing; current PAN leader Gustavo Madero echoed Ortega's call for PANAL to lose its official registry.
Let's not forget as well that the party is violating any right of the children to privacy and protection of personal data, even potentially putting their lives and those of their parents in danger
President of the federal electoral institute (IFE), Leonardo Valdés, said IFE would seek to corraborate the information before deciding what to do. Let's hope they act fast: The actions of PANAL, and SNTE, must have consequences, if the law is to appear to have any weight and value at all.
Could one also be allowed to hope, just for a moment, that the increasing calls for leader-for-life of SNTE, Elba Esther Gordillo to renounce her position might actually be heeded?
Friday, August 27, 2010
IFE confirms: No penalty for the president for breaching law
Despite the resolution by the TEPJF, Mexico's electoral tribunal, that president Calderón broke constitutional and electoral law by his "public announcements" ahead of this summer's state elections, the Federal Electoral Institute confirmed that the president will not face any sanction, for the simple fact that no such penalty is contemplated for what are defined as "electoral crimes" by the executive power.
Expect a legislative push soon to change this legal absurdity.
President of the PRD, Jesús Ortega, noted congress should reform the law to end this "guaranteed impunity." (For tis part, IFE itself, said council president Leonardo Valdés, has been pushing for an overhaul of this aspect of the law since 2008).
This sounds very reasonable. While the 2007 electoral law made it illegal to publish government propaganda ahead of electoral contests, leaving out any specific penalties only undermines the respect not for this particular electoral prohibition, but for law in general.
Expect a legislative push soon to change this legal absurdity.
President of the PRD, Jesús Ortega, noted congress should reform the law to end this "guaranteed impunity." (For tis part, IFE itself, said council president Leonardo Valdés, has been pushing for an overhaul of this aspect of the law since 2008).
This sounds very reasonable. While the 2007 electoral law made it illegal to publish government propaganda ahead of electoral contests, leaving out any specific penalties only undermines the respect not for this particular electoral prohibition, but for law in general.
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