María del Carmen Alanís is head of the TEPJF, Mexico's highest electoral tribunal. Yet as she notes, in the Mexican legislature, women are sadly far and few between:
- In the Senate: 18 out of 128 women senators, or barely 14 percent
- In the Chamber of Deputies, worse still: 28 out of 500, or 5.6 percent (!)
A long, long, long way to go.
--> CORRECTED - apparent typo in article (thanks, Yann!) : At least 124 out of 500 - or less than 25 percent.
Still a pretty long way to go...
Showing posts with label María del Carmen Alanís. Show all posts
Showing posts with label María del Carmen Alanís. Show all posts
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
TEPJF laments: Still no way to punish public servants for interference
The TEPJF, Mexico's highest electoral tribunal, and IFE, the electoral institute responsible for arranging Mexico's federal elections, are bound, to be sure, by the created for them by congress. The president of the court, María del Carmen Alanís, again lamented a serious shortcoming, ahead of the 2012 presidential elections:
Despite the 2007-08 electoral reform, still no rules are in place to punish a public official that breaches the electoral laws, enshrined in the constitution. This includes the president. While it is not allowed for public servants to interfere in elections - last year, to recall, Calderón was chastised for what was deemed to be political propagandizing - there simply is no penalty stipulated, except if use of public money is detected. With Vicente Fox' blatantly illegal intermission in 2006 also alive and well in many's memory, this is indeed quite remarkable.
Del Carmen Alanís therefore calls for yet another electoral reform to alter this. Good luck getting that through before the very important 2011 elections; even for 2012 I remain pessimistic. Yet should the issue come up with regards to the state elections this summer - whether Peña Nieto, Calderón, or any other key functionary for that matter, do openly and blatantly interfere in the elections - political will may be conjured.
Despite the 2007-08 electoral reform, still no rules are in place to punish a public official that breaches the electoral laws, enshrined in the constitution. This includes the president. While it is not allowed for public servants to interfere in elections - last year, to recall, Calderón was chastised for what was deemed to be political propagandizing - there simply is no penalty stipulated, except if use of public money is detected. With Vicente Fox' blatantly illegal intermission in 2006 also alive and well in many's memory, this is indeed quite remarkable.
Del Carmen Alanís therefore calls for yet another electoral reform to alter this. Good luck getting that through before the very important 2011 elections; even for 2012 I remain pessimistic. Yet should the issue come up with regards to the state elections this summer - whether Peña Nieto, Calderón, or any other key functionary for that matter, do openly and blatantly interfere in the elections - political will may be conjured.
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