Guadalupe Irízar / Reform Agency
Monday, January 23, 2023 | 21:58
Juarez City.- In the country there is a great paradox, because despite the high expectations, the increase in transparency in the institutions has not impacted in the same way in the fight against corruption, assured Reyes Rodríguez, President Magistrate of the Electoral Tribunal of the Judiciary of the Federation (TEPJF).
In this sense, transparency in the country “has left a lot to be owed,” he added.
In a discussion on transparency in electoral justice, former electoral officials and current professors at the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Alejandro Poiré and Arturo Sánchez, spoke about the progress and challenges in terms of transparency.
In contrast, the president of the TEPJF, after acknowledging what has been achieved “in the young Mexican democracy,” referred to some of the pending issues, not only in light of technological advances but also to consolidate what has been achieved.
“The legislation in Mexico regarding transparency, if I remember correctly, has been very well evaluated in international instances as a formal normative instrument and that also proposes a framework for the authorities’ actions,” said the Magistrate.
“But on the other hand, in terms of the results or the great expectations that were had, for example, as a tool to fight corruption, well it also seems to me, without me being an expert on the subject, that it has been left a bit behind.” The expectations were very high and the paradox that we can see that Mexico has a very important evaluation in terms of the design of the transparency law, of its institutions, but in terms of combating corruption the qualifications at the international level are rather down,” he said.
He exposed this paradox and used it as an example of the need to consolidate the progress made in this matter.
Previously, Alejandro Poiré, former official of the then IFE and former Secretary of the Interior in the final stretch of Felipe Calderón’s six-year term, was optimistic about the future of the institutions in terms of transparency and the impetus that young people give to this matter.
He raised among the challenges addressing the impact of technological transformation at a global level and the advancement of artificial intelligence.
For his part, Arturo Sánchez, former electoral adviser with the IFE and INE, noted the changes in transparency and access to information in recent decades, recalling bank and fiduciary secrecy, which the electoral authority faced in cases from Pemexgate and Amigos de Fox, to name a few.
In addition to the difficult moments in the electoral debate that are coming, he said, given the possibility that “Plan” B of the electoral reform will be approved in the next few days, the former electoral adviser considered it essential that there be transparency in the public debate.
Transparency and democracy also go together, he said.
Magistrate Felipe Fuentes and the electoral adviser Claudia Zavala also participated in the conversation.
