Guadalupe Irizar / Reform Agency
Wednesday, March 15, 2023 | five pm
Mexico City.- The magistrates of the Superior Chamber of the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary (TEPJF) confirmed the exclusion of electoral advisor Claudia Humphrey from the process for the presidency of the National Electoral Institute (INE) as she was constitutionally and legally prevented.
It would be a re-election, says the sentence approved by four votes in favor and one against.
With the sentence, the decision that had previously been made by the Technical Committee for the Evaluation of Applicants of the INE was confirmed.
“It is considered that the application of the prohibition does not violate the right of the counselor to access the electoral function, since this right is not absolute, which can be conditioned to certain requirements,” the approved sentence maintains.
“In addition, since 2014, when the current counselor was appointed president, it was certain that the next appointment process in which the presidency would be available would be in 2023, so the counselor was able to plan his participation for that specific process. .
“In accordance with this, the interpretation made by the Technical Evaluation Committee is considered correct, since by constitutional mandate the people who hold the position of counselor of the INE are prevented from aspiring again to any council of that electoral body.”
The resolution listed some of the reasons for the confirmation of Counselor Humphrey’s impediment.
“The constitutional prohibition of re-election refers expressly to both the ministries that hold the presidency, as well as the rest of the electoral ministries,” he explains.
“However, it is considered that this does not imply that they are different positions and that, therefore, the re-election between one and the other is not updated; on the contrary, it implies that the prohibition applies to all types of councils that are members of the Council General of the INE”.
All the ministries, he adds, participate in the same electoral body and its decisions, which also guarantees plurality of profiles and reinforces the prohibition of re-election.
“This purpose would not be achieved if the same person were allowed to occupy a council and then the presidency or vice versa.”
This legal framework, he assures, safeguards the staggered renewal design of the INE General Council, and is consistent with the prohibition that this court has applied to local electoral councils.
Judges Felipe de la Mata, Indalfer Infante and José Luis Vargas voted in favor of the project presented by the rapporteur magistrate, President Reyes Rodríguez. Judge Mónica Soto voted against.
Judge Janine Otálora and Judge Felipe Fuentes were not at the public session this Wednesday.
In the sentence, the arguments of counselor Humphrey, who argued that the INE presidency is a different position from the one she currently holds as electoral counselor, were dismissed, for which reason it was not a re-election.
Both in the approved project and in the interventions in the session by magistrates Rodríguez and Vargas, it was pointed out that although there may be some different functions, the positions are part of the same electoral body and the prohibition to re-election applies to all councils .
Judge Reyes cited the American Convention on Human Rights and the Constitution of the Republic and argued that the defense of the human rights of individuals may have a limit, especially in the case of public officials, who must adhere to what is expressly indicated in the legal framework. and constitutional.
Counselor Vargas, in supporting the project, stated before the plenary session that the Constitution must be interpreted when there are omissions, but not when it is express, and in this case the General Council of the INE is a single body, and that there are different functions, not it implies positions other than the presidency and the council.
They have the same status and the same rights and obligations, he said.
Judge Soto, for her part, was left alone to support Counselor Humphrey’s position and maintain that there was no express prohibition for her to participate and that for her they were different functions and that her rights should not be limited.
In the case of former INE counselor Javier Santiago, who chose to participate in the appointment of the presidency of the electoral body, the appeal before the Court was dismissed because it was a position reserved for a female candidate, according to the ruling.
In other rulings, they dismissed the grievances of other applicants who challenged their exclusion from the list of the Technical Evaluation Committee for various reasons, such as non-compliance with requirements or disagreement with the exam, and confirmed the Committee’s agreements.
