Electoral court rejects annulling Mexico 2012 election

A commission of Mexico's TEPJF electoral court tasked with qualifying the 2012 presidential election announced that it proposes to reject as unfounded the complaints of Movimiento Progresista, the electoral coalition behind Andrés Manuel López Obrador's candidacy, where it demanded the annulment of the election, alleging overspending, undue media coverage,  custom-made fake polling, and other irregularities

Next, the TEPJF will actually vote on the recommendation tomorrow, and next the court will actually vote to ratify (and theoretically, to not) the PRI's victory, but in essence this all but ensures that Enrique Peña Nieto will sometime in the next few days be declared president-elect of Mexico.

Source:
Rechazan magistrados todas las quejas de la izquierda. La Jornada, Aug. 29, 2012
Desecha Trife impugnación. El Universal, Aug. 29, 2012

TEPJF orders the PRD to renew its national organs

Following a complaint by Carlos Sotelo, elected as PRD senator in 2006, the Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF) ordered the PRD to renew its organs - national congress, national council, and state councils - by Dec. 15.

The PRD sought to postpone the renovation of its national organs in particular, and this might also lead to the cancellation of all its recent decisions in its national congress and council, which would be a great setback to the party. Sotelo, however, is gloating - he opposes the party´s recent decisions such as to hold a national poll to decide the party's 2012 presidential candidate. A further consequence may also be to make invalid and cancel the party's internal election for party president, and leave the party without a national leadership - this, ahead of the crucial gubernatorial election in Michoacán in November.

With such members sabotaging their own party - who needs external enemies?

Electoral Tribunal accepts expulsion of Manuel Espino

Mexico's electoral tribunal, TEPJF, voted 4-2 to confirm PAN's expulsion of Manuel Espino from the party. As far as I can see, this is in practice puts an end to this drawn-out process, where Espino - still popular among the most conservative sectors in the party, where he has a certain mass following - has fought tooth and nail against PAN's decision to kick him out of the party for disloyalty to its candidates in the 2010 elections.

Espino has also long expressed his interest in a presidential candidacy, and has his own "movement," Volver a Empezar.

AMLO disqualifies new head of Mexico's Electoral Tribunal

Mexico's federal electoral tribunal, TEPJF, may have a new president in Alejandro Luna Ramos, but Andrés Manuel López Obrador already has disqualified him as belonging to the "power mafia," and that he will thus not serve to guarantee impartiality in the 2012 elections.

Disqualifying the Electoral Tribunal even before the 2012 contest has officially begun certainly is not a promising sign.

TEPJF president Luna Ramos is the only remaining judge on the tribunal from the 2006 presidential election, which AMLO continues to claim, with no evidence, was fraudulent. TEPJF voted unanimously to declare Felipe Calderón the winner in 2006, though it did acknowledge many irregularities.

A recent article in Proceso by Álvaro Delgado, which is highly critical of Luna Ramos, is also worth a read, even if a tad tendentious.

New surprise head of Mexico's Electoral Tribunal: Alejandro Luna Ramos

Alejandro Luna Ramos was elected, by oral vote by his fellow peers, as the new head of Mexico's Federal Electoral Tribunal, Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación (TEPJF), by 5 out of 7 magistrates (His sister, Margarita Beatriz Luna Ramos, is a Supreme Court judge).

Outgoing TEPJF president María del Carmen Alanís, failed to achieve her reelection. Not only that; in a quite shocker vote, her reelection was backed by only one vote: her own. She has been considered by many to be a tad too friendly to the PRI. Relations have been at times quite acrimonious between Alanís and the other TEPJF members. As far as 2012 goes, a broader consensus for the new head of Mexico's highest electoral court can only be a positive thing.

Electoral Tribunal orders Ministry of Interior to sanction Hugo Valdemar

Mexico's electoral tribunal, Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación (TEPJF), ordered Mexico's interior ministry to stop dragging its feet and to sanction the Mexican Archdiocese and its venal spokesperson Hugo Valdemar, for violating Mexican law by calling on Mexicans note to vote for the PRD.

The case has been thrown back and forth between IFE and the Ministry, so one should perhaps not hold one's breath for a decision any time soon, but the TEPJF order is nonetheless a direct one.

Of note as well: TEPJF ruled as well that the responsible is not merely Valdemar, but also the Archdiocese, given that he has uttered his many anti-PRD opinions on church ground, and as a representative of the church.

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.

Final recourse rejected: Francisco Olvera governor-elect in Hidalgo

As expected, the Mexican federal electoral tribunal, TEPJF, rejected the last complaints by the Hidalgo Nos Une coalition of PAN-PRD and its candidate Xóchitl Gálvez, who had demanded the annulation of the 2010 gubernatorial election in Hidalgo.

As magistrate Salvador Nava noted, the claims were "eloquent and heated, but without effective legal grounds."

Magistrate Pedro Esteban Penagos accepted that several of the complaints might have caused the annulment of the election, but that they were not well enough documented.

Gálvez said she would accept the tribunal's decision, as did the Hidalgo branch of the PRD.

TEPJF orders Mexico State electoral institute to

Mexico's highest electoral court, TEPJF, unanimously ordered the Mexico State electoral institute (IEEM) to admit a complaint made by the PAN and PRD against various functionaries of the state, including Governor Enrique Peña Nieto, as well as local state legislators and mayors, for using state resources for personal political advertisements. The IEEM had earlier refused to accept the complaint, arguing it had no jurisdiction, a decision backed by the local electoral court, yet TEPJF clearly saw it otherwise. 

Yesterday, a day later, the head of the IEEM, Jesús Castillo Sandoval, declared that the electoral institute does not follow orders from Peña Nieto's PRI government. Let's hope so. 

Yet another IFE resolution revoked by TEPJF, then another

Mexico's highest electoral court, TEPJF, revoked an earlier resolution by the country's electoral institute (IFE) where the Partido del Trabajo (PT) was fined a million pesos for using the following words in a TV ad, while images of Enrique Peña, Carlos Salinas, Felipe Calderón and Elba Esther Gordillo were displayed: "The mafia of power that took over Mexico, responsible for the current national tragedy."
While IFE had found the ad "denigrated" the said public figures, TEPFJ wisely rejected this as being the party's opinion, and thus not denigrating. As has often been noted here: This is hardly the first time TEPJF have rejected IFE resolutions castigating non-PRI parties.

Yet of note: The TEPJF also ordered IFE to relaunch the investigation of a complaint by  PAN against Andrés Manuel López Obrador, where the party accused him of jumping the gun in terms of electioneering before the allowed time frame, after appearing in several TV and radio ads.

TEPJF confirms that PAN complaint against Fidel Herrera was unfounded

Mexico's highest electoral court, TEPJF, confirmed that the complaints of PAN against now-former governor of Veracruz, Fidel Herrara, for having uttered that the then-party president was a "confessed delinquent," were unfounded. PAN had argued the utterances were "denigrating and slandering." Yet TEPJF ruled unanimously against the party, arguing the statements were not political propaganda, which would have been illegal.

Good: There must be some leeway for allowing for criticism, even if it is dirty.

Yet one must also keep in mind that Herrera was caught red-handed on tape interfering with the electoral process, ordering state officials to campaign for his PRI successor. While likely not admissible as evidence - the tapes were leaked, probably by federal intelligence - they are certainly morally damaging, and on a whole other level than Herrera's badmouthing of the PAN.

Yet another IFE ruling in Peña Nieto's favor to be rejected by TEPJF

As noted earlier, I've grown increasingly wary of the IFE's decisions the past year or so as far too many have appeared to favor PRI and Mexico State Governor Enrique Peña Nieto, only to be rejected by Mexico´s highest electoral court, the TEPJF.

Yet another case in point: Earlier this month, the IFE notoriously deemed an ad by the PRD, where the party argued Peña Nieto was "fearful" of a political alliances, to be denigrating of his image (!). The PRD protested, and continued showing the ad, while it bleeped out the offensive phrase.
Yet what happened? The TEPJF on Dec. 24 (how i s that for work ethic!) ruled against the IFE, and ordered the ad to be allowed to air. The decision was not based on the merits of IFE´s argument but addressed a technical issue, but the point remains: The IFE to me has appeared far to trigger happy in censuring ads or "spots" against PRI and Peña Nieto, and has again been admonished by the TEPJF for doing so.

The PRD´s representative to IFE, Rafael Hernández, has become increasingly vocal in expressing frustration against the and its alleged breach of the "principle of neutrality.

On Dec. 13, IFE also rejected a complaint against Enrique Peña Nieto and then-Interior Minister Fernando Gómez-Mont for having made a pact where PAN agreed not to ally with PRD in gubernatorial elections, ostensibly in return for PRI backing of the federal budget. IFE declared ifself incompetente or not having jurisdiction to deal with the complaint filed by PRD, PT and Convergencia. The parties then announced they will also take this case to the TEPJF. Should the TEPJF again rule against the IFE... I believe the left may be well justified in smelling a rat.

There's something rotten in IFE

While I don´t follow Mexico's Federal electoral institute (IFE) and its Electoral tribunal (TEPJF) as closely as I should, there seems to me to be quite a bit of anecdotal evidence for two trends:

1) IFE has tended to absolve Governor of Mexico State Enrique Peña Nieto for most every complaint against him, while ordering his opponents to stop many of their ads against him
2) The Electoral tribunal has castigated IFE for many of these decisions.

The IFE operates according to guidelines that it cannot be held responsible for, of course - they were drawn up by congress. While the most recent 2007-8 electoral reform had many positive aspects to it, it is now apparent it also contained quite a few flaws, most apparently the inability - and for now I emphasize inability over unwillingness - of IFE to stop the incessant official propaganda and publicity in Mexico State in favor of its governor.

(By the way, the PRI-led state congress just approved in committee another hike, bringing the sum up, according to PRD, to 1.6 billion pesos)

However, IFE has been quite capable of interpreting its guidelines to ban ads from the PRD or other opposition parties against Peña Nieto. This has happened on a range of occasions, including just a few days ago, when IFE ordered the PRD to take out a line from a political ad that was deemed "denigrating" toward Peña Nieto´s image. The words in question? "Peña Nieto fears the political alliances" [of PAN and PRD].

Really? This line is "denigrating" the governor of Mexico State? I have a hunch that last word is not said in this case. Why? Because the TEPJF unanimously again ordered IFE to reopen another complaint from the PAN against Peña Nieto's government propaganda in relation with his fifth informe, publicity also transmitted in Guerrero and Baja California Sur (upcoming elections), which the IFE rejected. to rule on. It's just one more case of TEPJF ordering IFE to revisit an early decision - hardly dramatic in itself - but it just happens to be on Peña Nieto.

Something is happening here but you don't know what it is. Do you, Mr. Jones.

IFE under fire: TEPJF orders IFE to reopen investigation of church

Last week, TEPJF, Mexico's highest electoral court, ordered the Fedral Electoral Institute (IFE), which arranges federal elections in Mexcio, to reopen the complaint that the PRD had launched against the church, which in the past months have drastically stepped up its political proselytizing, such as calling on voters not to vote for the PRD, a party it shamefully refer to as "fascist." To anyone with a casual knowledge of the Mexican Constitution, these were obvious and blatant breaches of constitutional as well as electoral law - and not to mention, which is a separate issue, the open hate speech from the church against gays and accusing the Supreme Court of being corrupt.

Yet IFE, to recall, timidly refused to take any stand on the issue or reprimand the church in any way. It washed its hands off the case by passing on the complaint to the Interior Ministry, which IFE knows fully well would mean that the case would be permanently shelved. Now, however, the electoral tribunal, the TEPJF, ruled that IFE engaged in an "insufficient investigation" of the matter, and ordered it to reopen the process.

This is excellent news. As Rafael Hernández, PRD's party representative notes, hopefully this will lead to the spelling out of clearer rules regarding what the church is allowed and not allowed to do: It is well overdue.

Roberto Gil Zuarth free to be candidate for the PAN presidency, says TEPJF.

Mexico's highest electoral court TEPJF declared yesterday unanimously that PAN's party rules do not prohibit Roberto Gil for running for the party presidency, rejecting the complaint by Senator Blanca Judith Díaz that Gil's short tenure in the party - he's been a member for barely 2.5 years - made him ineligible.

The tribunal is quite right: Technically, there is no law or stipulation in the party regulations decreeing this explicilty.

However - and there is a big however - party rules explicitly state that anyone who wants to be a member of the PAN's national council must have been a member for at least five years. It would therefore appear to be obvious that the same would apply to the party's top position, its president. One may venture to suggest that this has been so obvious that it didn't occur for anyone to write it down. Until Gil came along, that is: His backers have arrogantly dismissed this rule as having nothing to do with the party presidency.

It should be obvious to any remotely objective observer what while the TEPJF ruling may be technically correct - it is not explicitly written - it is such a blatant violation of the spirit of the party laws, and to be sure, goes against PAN's entire transitory, which remained a party of legality and institutionality until Fox and particularly Calderón heavily battered the party's autonomy. Should Gil become the party president he will be the third president imposed by Calderón. For the PAN it will be a Pyrrhic victory.

TEPJF rejects Veracruz election complaints, despite dirty phone talk

The Federal Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF) on Tuesday finally rejected the official complaints lodged by PAN against the July 4 gubernatorial elections in Veracruz, as well as a separate complaint by PRD-Convergencia, and thus finally validated the victory of PRI's Javier Duarte de Ochoa. The opposition parties had protested against alleged infractions such as the theft of electoral ballots, illegal diffusion of a poll, promotion of electoral propaganda outside of the allotted time period, and failure to transmit a debate between the main candidates. Yet perhaps gravest were the charges that outgoing governor had used public resources to promote Duarte and other PRI candidates. Ahead of the elections, tapes were released by PAN where Governor Fidel Herrera seemingly ordered the state apparatus to work for PRI's victory. Herrera notably responded by rejecting the tapes' authenticity, yet at the same time accusing PAN and the PGR, the attorney general's office, of illegal wiretapping. 


Yet TEPJF rejected all the arguments, including those based on the tapes, as the electoral court found this apparent strong evidence to be "inadmissible" as it had been obtained illegally. 


Moreover, in an echo of 2006, the court did accept the argument from PAN's Miguel Angel Yunes that the Veracruz electoral authorities had refused to accept various complaints from the candidate, such as dirty campaigns that linked Yunes to corruption and pederasty- yes, no joke! - yet the TEPJF concluded there was no evidence that this filthy "swift-boating" was linked to the ruling PRI. 


It is the law, and Miguel Angel Yunes is not exactly a saint when it comes to electoral transgressions himself, yet it pains me to see that Herrera got off completely scot free with his one, handing this important state to PRI ahead of the 2012 presidential election.

Mexico's electoral tribunal confirms PVEM fine for calling Ortega a "delinquent"

The Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación (TEPJ), Mexico's highest electoral court, confirmed the fine levied by the IFE a month back on the PVEM or Mexican Green party, after Senator Jorge Legorreta, PVEM leader in Mexico City, hurled accusations that the PRD and its leader Jesús Ortega were tied to organized crime.

While the right to free speech in a democracy must be paramount, this was far beyond a mere slip of the tongue; the PVEM had repeated these claims in communiques sent out to TV and radio stations, and promoted them on Web sites. Smears at times have consequences, and at times this may be a very good thing.

Much like in 2006, TEPJF condemns Durango election irregularities yet certifies election of Jorge Herrera Caldera

Less than three weeks after PAN leader César Nava and PRD leader Jesús Ortega went to the TEPJF to protest the Durango election - the first time in Mexican history that both party leaders together went to TEPJF to demand elections annulled - Mexico's highest tribunal nonetheless affirmed the victory of Jorge Herrera Caldera, PRI governor-elect. Ortega and Nava documented abuses such as the harassment of PRD activists, as well as the blatant interference by outgoing governor Ismael Hernández.

TEPJF, for its part, condemned the stealing of 6 ballot urns, and gunfire at one voting center with 18 other urns, ut, in an echo of its verdict in the tumultuous 2006 election, while it acknowledged irregularities it declared there was not evidence that this directly affected the outcome in the election, the court in other words venturing into the field of social science and likelihood estimation. In the end, Jorge Herrera Caldera will assume as governor the coming Wednesday. Now the next case to be decided by TEPJF is the equally controversial election in Hidalgo.

(Final vote tally: 293, 806 for Herrera, vs. 278,295 for the coalition behind José Rosas Aispuro, Durango Nos Une)

IFE and TEPJ at loggerheads over a crucial issue: What is illegal propaganda vs. what is an "interview"?

The Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) is well aware that something needs to be done to avoid a "perfect storm" ahead of 2012. Specifically, IFE is calling for a new electoral reform to decide, once and for all, what amounts to freely exercising journalism and the free flow of information through interviews with candidates, and what amounts to outright abuse of this mechanism, where "interviews" are merely thinly disguised propaganda for a candidate. The obvious case of Enrique Peña Nieto stands out here: The Mexico State governor continues to flaunt electoral laws such as the prohibition of propaganda by public officials by agreeing to a plethora of "interviews" that only serve to boast of his supposed achievements and drum up support for the  PRI. Yet many of the members of IFE's general council do not agree with TEPJF's recent decision on where to draw the line. 


(This is related to, but not identical, to the recent clampdown on president Felipe Calderón by the TEPJF, where the federal electoral tribunal deemed Calderón to have broken electoral as well as constitutional law by his "announcements" ahead of recent electoral contests).


Put simply, the TEPJF declared that a PAN candidate in Tabasco and his party, as well as the radio station, should be sanctioned for breaking electoral law, as the candidate held a total of nine interviews with the radio station. This was found to be excessive, and as a result both TEPJF and the radio station will be sanctioned in one way or another. 


But clearly we have many competing ideals here, as IFE is well aware of. 
- To what degree do interviews (radio, tv, newspapers, etc) extend to electoral propaganda?
- What is the difference between performing a public service - the free flow of information - and doing propaganda for a candidate?
- Is there a maximum limits for interviews? (nine? eight? five?)
- Should journalists, already under enormous pressures in Mexico, also work under the threat of possibly being sanctioned while merely doing their job of informing?


The burden here clearly falls on the IFE to draw the line, and the electoral institute is not all too happy of this enormous extension of its sphere of operation that the TEPJF's decision in practice entails for the IFE. 


To recall, the 2007-2008 reform set strict limits on political campaigning, such as granting parties a set amount of time/resources for electoral propaganda, yet banning the parties (and, to be sure, other actors such as business, NGSOs, the church, etc) from paying for further political advertising. 

Yet where does one draw the line between what is carrying out the crucial duty of political reporting, versus actively campaigning for a party through phony/paid "interviews"?
There is hardly an easy answer, but it is in my view of utmost importance that this line is clearly drawn ahead of 2012.


And may I also add: Mexico's neighbor to the north could very well use a revamping of its own electoral and media laws: Should Fox "News" really be allowed to operate as such when it  is not only acting as a propaganda arm for the Republican party and the nativist fringe "Tea Party" organizations,  but its owners even donate money to the party it is supposed to cover objectively as a news organization?

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.