AMLO hopes INE will be respected if chaired by a woman: “They tend to be more honest”

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) was optimistic that the next president of the National Electoral Institute (INE) be a woman

“Women tend to be more honest, more responsible, they are a guarantee,” he said at the February 23 press conference.

And it is that, on February 22, the Electoral Tribunal of the Judiciary of the Federation (TEPJF) ordered that the quintet in charge of appointing the next president of the INE be composed only of women, in order to guarantee the alternation of genders in the electorate.

In this sense, López Obrador said he was sure that women would “guarantee democracy better”. His words would be underpinned by the role women have had in his cabinet.

With regard to the possible profiling of Carla Humphrey as a favorite to be the next president of the electorate, the president avoided commenting on it.

“It doesn’t suit me, they have to decide it at the congress and I think that on the INE board, what I know is that women are very responsible and very honest. When I was head of government (of Mexico City) most of the cabinet members were women, now the same, almost half are women and they are very good,” he said.

Likewise, he denied that what is established by the TEPJF ignores the right of men to participate as it occurs in the pursuit of gender equality, since previously (and to this day) there was a predominance male participation in positions of power.

The position of the president concerning the change of presidency within the electoral body, intervenes within the framework of the tensions maintained with Lorenzo Cordobaa character who currently chairs the INE and with whom he disagrees, especially after López Obrador promoted a series of reforms to electoral law, better known as “Plan B”.

And it is that on February 22, after long discussions, and after the failure of the attempt to promote a reform at the constitutional level, the morenista bancana finally obtained the approval of the second package of reforms of the Plan Bwith which, according to multiple complaints, “the operational capacity of the INE will be restricted”.

This idea was recently exposed by the journalist Natalie Kitroeff in the American newspaper, The New York Times, where she assured that the reform which is waiting to enter into force, “will lead to the reduction of its staff, diminish its autonomy and limit its ability to penalize candidates who violate electoral laws.

From the point of view of New York Timesthis series of measures adopted by the president of Mexico undermines independent institutions and is part of a “pattern of questioning democratic norms”.

Meanwhile, since the afternoon of February 22, the Senate of the Republic has approved by simple majority the second part of AMLO’s plan B in political-electoral matters.

In what was approved, the “eternal life” clause for small parties was left out, so it is expected that in the near future the federal executive will enact the reform package in the Official Gazette of the Federation ( DOF) so that they can take effect.

However, due to the multiple disagreements expressed by the benches of the parliamentary opposition -composed of the PRI, the PAN PRD and the MC- a challenge is expected before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) to point it out as a reform unconstitutional. In the meantime and in this regard, on February 26, a group of citizens should demonstrate in defense of the INE.