Preview of the 2014-2015 Federal Electoral Process in Mexico: An International Perspective
Manuel González Oropeza Justice of the Supreme Court of Elections
Preview of the 2014-2015 Federal Electoral Process in Mexico: An International Perspective
Manuel González Oropeza Justice of the Supreme Court of Elections
México, 2015 Edición 2015.
D.R. © Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación. Carlota Armero núm. 5000, colonia CTM Culhuacán, CP 04480, delegación Coyoacán, México, DF. Teléfonos 5728-2300 y 5728-2400. www.te.gob.mx
Impreso en México. 5
Preview of the 2014-2015 Federal Electoral Process in Mexico: An International Perspective
2014-2015 Federal Electoral Process Elections for Governor were held in nine states of in Numbers the Republic: Baja California Sur, Campeche, Colima, Guerrero, Michoacán, Nuevo León, Querétaro, San Luis Federal Electoral Process Potosí and Sonora. In the states, 361 local representatives by majority rule, 279 local representatives by proportional representation, The 2014-2015 Federal Electoral Process began on Tuesday 993 city councils, 16 borough heads and 20 municipal October 7, 2014, and the election was held on June 7, 2015. boards were elected. (Source: INE) 2,179 federal and local elective offices were renewed in 17 states, which included 500 federal representatives Parties and coalitions (300 by plurality and 200 by proportional representation). (Source: INE) Participating political parties: 10 (3 of which obtained their registration on July 9, 2014). States with elections which coincide Coalitions: 2 (1 partial and 1 flexible). with the federal elections PRI-PVEM (partial): 250 joint candidates: 192 headed by the PRI and 58 by the PVEM. The 17 states which held local elections in 2015 were: PRD-PT (flexible): 100 jointcandidates: 64 headed by the Baja California Sur, Campeche, Colima, Chiapas, Distrito PRD and 36 by the PT. Federal, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Jalisco, Estado de México, Michoacán, Morelos, Nuevo León, Querétaro, San Luis Percentage needed to maintain party registration: 3% Potosí, Sonora, Tabasco and Yucatán. 6
Registry of Voters
The Registry of Voters includes 83.5 million citizens, registered according to the geographic location of their place of residence. (Source: INE)
Institutions participating in the 2014-2015 Federal Electoral Process
The National Electoral Institute (Instituto Nacional Electoral, INE) is the autonomous public body in charge of organizing the federal elections. It also organizes the local elections in the states of the Republic and the Federal District in coordination with the Local Public Electoral Bodies (Organismos Públicos Locales Electorales, OPLEs).
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Popular Participation: 47.005%
Preliminary Results (as reported June 11, 2015): National Results by Political Party (House of Representatives)
The Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary Judicial Scrutiny on the Federal Electoral Process (Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación, TEPJF) resolves the appeals of the electoral processes During the midterm federal process of 2009, 1,578 cases that are filed in our country. were adjudicated. The Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Election Meanwhile, between October 7, 2014, and June 6, Offenses (Fiscalía Especializada para la Atención de Delitos 2015, the Supreme Court for Elections resolved 14,653 Electorales, FEPADE) is the institutional body dependent on means of appeal regarding acts related to the preparation the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic Procuraduría( of the process, the pre-campaigns, the internal processes of General de la República, PGR). It has the obligation to candidate selection, the registration of candidates, the prevent, investigate and prosecute electoral infractions in federal register of voter, the inter-campaign period and a timely manner in accordance with the legal framework, the electoral campaigns. and the infractions that violate the guarantees of the vote, During the midterm federal process of 2009, the average alter the results of the elections or affect the legal course of time for resolving the cases was 14 days, meanwhile during the electoral process. this electoral process they have been resolved in an average The OPLEs organize the elections held in the states. of 9 days. The local Electoral Tribunals validate the results of the (SOURCE: Statistics Department of the General state elections. Secretariat of Agreements of the TEPJF).
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The Regional Specialized Chamber has been resolving The reform also introduced surpassing the pre- cases in 24 hours on average, in compliance with the campaign and campaign expenditure ceiling as a new cause deadlines established in the law. (Source: Statistics for annulment of an election. Department of the General Secretariat of Agreements of Furthermore, the reform included independent candidates. the TEPJF) (Source: Compendio Legislación Nacional Electoral)
Status on the Judicial Scrutiny Electoral Process 2014 – 2105: After the election of June 7, 2015, the delivery of the International Visitors Program electoral packages took place with regularity. The electoral process concludes once the local tribunals General Information Program or, where applicable, the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal for International Visitors Judiciary has resolved the last means of appeal presented, Since 1997, a few days before Election Day, the electoral or when it has been confirmed that no appeals were authorities of Mexico welcome international visitors that presented. wish to take part in a program where they are informed on (Source: INE.http://www2.ine.mx/archivos2/portal/ the main features of the electoral process. This program Elecciones/PEF/2014-2015) includes sessions in which national and international authorities, experts, academics and representatives from 2014 political-electoral reform political parties, analyze the structure, performance, challenges and best practices in the Mexican electoral During this election new powers and features were enforced system from a comparative perspective. This year, the deriving from the recent political-electoral reform approved Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary, the National in 2014, were put into practice. Electoral Institute and the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office One of the changes was the creation of the Regional for Election Offenses organized 11 sessions and a round Specialized Chamber of the Electoral Tribunal of the table, with the following topics and participants:: Federal Judiciary in order to guarantee the equality of the electoral processes, which supervises the airtime and Opening ceremony broadcasting in radio and television allocated to political parties and to candidates. It also attends to cases related During this session, Constancio Carrasco Daza, Chief Justice to early campaign activities. of the TEPJF, Lorenzo Córdova, President of the General The name of the Federal Electoral Institute (ife) changed Council of INE, and Santiago Nieto, Specialized Prosecutor to the National Electoral Institute (ine). It has the power to for Election Offenses, addressed the audience to explain take over and organize local elections in case it is requested the nature of each institution, their responsibilities and by the states of the Republic and to appoint the members of the challenges that the electoral process presents to the the Local Public Electoral Bodies (OPLEs). authorities. This session was moderated by the President of The recent reform established the obligation to the Electoral Tribunal of Panama, Erasmo Pinilla. nominate 50% of the candidates for representatives and senators of each gender as well as the requirement to nominate substitute candidates of the same gender, which applies both for the principle of plurality and of proportional representation.
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Laura Chinchilla, former president of Costa Rica and Head of the Foreign Visitors Mission of the OAS, also shared with the audience the history of observation missions deployed in the continent by the organization since 1962, preliminary comments from a previous visit to Mexico in April, as well as the different methodologies that would be applied, including gender, political finance and electoral justice, by 62 observers deployed through the country. This session was moderated by the Head of External Relations of the TEPJF, Alberto Guevara Castro. Session 2: Foreign visitors’ missions: objectives and scope Session 3: Electoral management models Two organizations introduced their work in Mexico for the Electoral Process: the Inter-American Union of Electoral Arturo Sánchez, member of the General Council at INE, Bodies (Unión Interamericana de Organismos Electorales, explained the new institutional architecture for the UNIORE) and the Organization of American States (OAS). administration of elections, including how the National The first mission was represented by one of the Co- Electoral Institute interacts with Local Electoral Bodies Chairs of UNIORE and President of the Electoral Service (OPLES). On that note, Yuri Beltrán, member of the of Chile, Patricio Santamaría, and by the representative of Council at the Electoral Institute of the Federal District its Executive Secretariat and Director of the Advisory and (Instituto Electoral del Distrito Federal, IEDF), explained Electoral Promotion Center (Centro de Asesoría y Promoción how OPLES deploy coordinated actions with INE, their Electoral, CAPEL), Salvador Romero. They explained how specific responsibilities in organizing elections and the UNIORE is organized and its current membership, as well main challenges they face after the recent reform. José as the methodology and main findings of two preliminary Thompson, Executive Director of the Inter-American visits, in which they held interviews to assess the impact Institute of Human Rights, moderated this session. of the electoral reform which took place in 2013-2014, the development and regulations of campaigns, political finance and access to media, as well as the role of the TEPJF in the protection of political-electoral rights and access to justice.
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Session 4: Political parties’ registration and prerogatives
During this session, Pamela San Martin, member of the General Council at INE, explained new regulations regarding the registration and prerogatives of political parties in Mexico, after the recent reform. She addressed the audience to describe in general terms how political finance is managed and the voting threshold that parties need to reach in order to keep their registration. On the other hand, Attahiru M. Jega, President of the Independent National Electoral Commission of Nigeria, and David Matamoros, Session 6: Justice of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Honduras, Protection of political rights and electoral justice provided two international references to compare with the Mexican model. The session was moderated by Justice To explain how the Mexican constitutional tribunal on Pedro Esteban Penagos López, of the TEPJF. electoral matters works, Justice Manuel González Oropeza of the TEPJF, argued how the work of the TEPJF and, particularly, its Specialized Regional Chamber protect what can be called electoral freedom. The President of the Constitutional Court of Croatia, Chief Justice Jasna Omejec, gave an overview of the protection of political rights by judicial means in Europe, emphasizing those countries where Constitutional Courts have that mandate and providing details on the Croatian system. Chief Justice Patricio Valdés Aldunate, President of the Electoral Tribunal of Chile, shared with the audience how electoral justice has worked in his country since 1925, when this court was created. The session was moderated by TEPJF’s Regional Session 5: Justice María Amparo Hernández Chong Cuy. General framework of electoral offenses
In the Mexican model, there is a Specialized Prosecutor responsible for investigating the election offenses described in the corresponding law. Santiago Nieto, Specialized Prosecutor for Election Offenses addressed the audience to explain his responsibilities and mandate. Juan Carlos Pérez, Advisor to the Vice-Presidency of the Electoral Tribunal of Panama, offered a view on how this works in his country, with Francisco Távara, President of the National Elections Jury of Peru as moderator.
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Session 7: Session 8: Financial control of political parties Regulation on the access and campaigns and use of the media for electoral purposes
This session was introduced by Benito Nacif, member of Patricio Ballados, Executive Director of Prerogatives and the General Council of INE, who presented in general terms Political Parties at INE, explained the general framework how accountability and auditing works in Mexico after the under which political parties access the media. He reform. Eduardo Gurza, Director of the Accountability Unit explained how the Mexican EMB controls this, as the law complemented the first presentation by showing live how the forbids procurement or purchase of airtime, and elaborated online auditing system works and how political parties have on the monitoring system. Justice Flavio Galván Rivera, been presenting invoices for the services and goods they of the TEPJF, gave a lecture on how complaints and have bought for campaigning purposes. From the TEPJF’s irregularities regarding access to media and the legality of perspective, Justice María del Carmen Alanis Figueroa contents is also under the responsibility of TEPJF, through explained the challenges posed by the recent reform, which its Specialized Regional Chamber and, in last instance, its establishes quantitative and qualitative parameters for Superior Chamber. Liza García, on the other hand, gave a the annulment of elections on grounds of violation of the general overview on how political finance works in Puerto new political finance regulations. Using examples of how Rico. The session was moderated by Nubia Villacís, Vice- these cases can be dealt with at the jurisdictional level, President of the National Electoral Council of Ecuador. she illustrated the complexities in enforcing the applicable legislation. Chief Justice José Antonio Dias Toffoli, President the Superior Electoral Court of Brazil, provided details on how electoral justice works in his country, with a special reference to political finance. He explained how increasing campaigning costs and a stronger influence of corporations have created a troubling interaction between political and economic power. The session was moderated by José Thompson.
Session 9: Vote counting and dissemination of provisional results
During this session, Ciro Murayama, member of the General Council of INE offered a general overview of vote counting procedures and how the Electoral Preliminary Results Program (Programa de Resultados Electorales Preliminares, PREP) works. He emphasized the importance of the use of new and relevant technologies to provide certainty to voters and stakeholders. On the other hand, Carlos Ariel
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Sánchez, National Registrar of the Civil State of Colombia shared with the audience the Colombian model and how the implementation of technologies have increased the efficiency of the registry and, as polls show, strengthened trust in this public institution. Terry Tselane, Vice President of the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa also gave another perspective on how vote counting works in his country. The session was moderated by John N. Guiliani, Judge of the Superior Electoral Tribunal of the Dominican Republic.
Session 11: Political parties and the Mexican federal election of 2015
This session invited ten political parties, from which nine sent their representative. Each speaker was given the floor to explain to international visitors what their political parties interpreted as the main challenges during the electoral process and their proposals to address them. The session was moderated by Manuel Carrillo, Head of the International Affairs Unit at INE.
Session 10: Integration and functions of the joint polling station
During this session, the Executive Director of Electoral Organization at INE, Miguel Ángle Solís, presented the Joint Polling Station and the Joint Voting Table models, which, for the first time, would receive ballots for both federal and local elections in cases of concurrent elections. He explained the main differences with the previous models and the benefits and challenges that its implementation may bring. The Roundtable: Mexico, 2015 elections Vicepresident of the Electoral Court of Uruguay, Wilfredo Penco, provided a comparative perspective on different The final session wrapped up the analysis of the Mexican polling models in other Latin American countries, including election with national and international speakers. Roy Uruguay, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses. The Campos, CEO of Consulta Mitofsky, introduced the session session was moderated by Salvador Romero. sharing general trends that pollsters had been publishing
Preview of the 2014-2015 Federal Electoral Process in Mexico 13 for local and federal elections, to give an overview of the (COLMEX), focused on the risks of a heavily contested political landscape in Mexico and the possibility of close election and the pressure posed by a negative socio-economic competitions and potential challenges to elections, where context. Daniel Zovatto, Director of the Latin America most political parties would win something. The Director of and the Caribbean Office of the International Institute for the Legal Research Institute of the National Autonomous Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), University of Mexico (Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas also provided other examples in the region to stress the de la UNAM, IIJ-UNAM), Pedro Salazar, analyzed the main importance to work, simultaneously, on consolidating highlights during the electoral process and how the most procedural democracy and substantive democracy. He recent electoral reform has been implemented, providing provided data on the importance of addressing the primary examples of circumstances that have put pressure on the needs of the population and highlighted the importance electoral authorities, particularly when it comes to media of guaranteeing effective representation by political exposure of political parties and candidates. Soledad parties. This session was moderated by Flavia Freidenberg, Loaeza, professor and researcher at the Colegio de México researcher at the IIJ-UNAM.
Data on countries and participants that attended the Information Program for International Visitors
Country Visitors Country Visitors Antigua and Barbuda 1 Honduras 2 Argentina 1 Jamaica 1 Brazil 2 Nicaragua 1 Bulgaria 2 Nigeria 8 Cameroon 5 Palestine 1 Canada 1 Panama 5 Chile 2 Paraguay 2 Colombia 5 Peru 4 South Korea 3 Puerto Rico 1 Costa Rica 4 Dominican Republic 4 Croatia 2 Rumania 1 Ecuador 4 Russia 1 El Salvador 9 Santa Lucia 3 United States 3 South Africa 2 Georgia 2 Taiwan 4 Guatemala 4 Venezuela 3 Guyana 1
Total countries: 33 Total attendees: 94 Total foreign citizens registered to observe the election: 401 Additionally, representatives from international organizations, civil society organizations, political parties, embassies, public institutions, local electoral institutes and tribunals, universities and other stakeholders, attended the event.
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Observation activities
Support Program for Electoral Observation The TEPJF, the National Electoral Institute and the Ministry of the Interior, on behalf of the federal government, joined efforts and resources for the creation and operation of the Support Program for the 2015 Electoral Observation, aimed at providing supplementary funds to national civil society organizations to implement electoral observation projects.
The previously mentioned institutions allocated public resources for the financing of the 39 projects that complied Observation activities during the election with the requirements, technical characteristics and general The OAS deployed 62 observers through the country to criteria set out in the public call to carry out electoral visit 638 polling stations in 17 states, and sent experts observation in the various stages of the electoral process to apply specific methodologies to identify strengths and and of the activities of the electoral authorities. These areas of opportunity during this election. These observation projects were not selected by representatives of the Mexican activities included topics such as political finance, gender authorities, but by an Experts Committee created specifically and electoral justice. According to a press release, the for this purpose. Their public reputation and expertise is well- Head of the mission highlighted that “the voting took place known in Mexico and abroad in different areas, including in an environment of peacefulness in most of the Mexican administration of elections, transparency, access to and territory, not without lamenting the violent episodes that administration of justice, among others. They are: took place before the election and during Election Day at some polling stations”. “This election represents a victory - José de Jesús Orozco (president of the Committee) - Jacqueline Peschard for the democratic institutional stability of the country”. - Héctor Díaz Santana Specifically on the electoral justice system, the mission - Víctor Alarcón observed an excessive workload and recommended legal - Alfredo Figueroa reforms to avoid providing incentives for presenting an excessive number of legal disputes, as witnessed during Observation activities prior to the election this electoral process. Both UNIORE and the OAS deployed missions to hold interviews with stakeholders and authorities, including Justices of the TEPJF and member of the General Council of the INE. These preliminary visits helped to put the election in context and provide the general framework under which it would take place. Also, they offered an opportunity to identify areas that could raise the interest of observers. In this context, the Justices of the High Chamber of the TEPJF held two preliminary meetings with missions of UNIORE, and one with the Foreign Visitors Mission of the OAS. The mission also met with Regional Justices from the Specialized Regional Chamber and the Regional Chambers of the Federal District and Monterrey.
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On a positive note, the mission also remembered that TEPJF’s dissemination activities gender parity was established for the lists of candidates and media coverage during the last reform and praised the efforts by TEPJF Electoral Platform to apply this rule horizontally to candidates at the municipal level. The TEPJF, through the Internet television channel Electoral Platform (Plataforma Electoral), carried out a special The observers coordinated by CAPEL, were organized coverage of the elections held on June 7. in ten groups which visited 14 boroughs in Mexico City, 16 hours of broadcasting was carried out to disseminate where they witnessed the opening and closing of 71 information related with the development of the elections polling stations. Their preliminary report states that the in an impartial, objective and timely manner. creation of the Specialized Regional Chamber is indeed Also, eleven programs were produced to disseminate the the establishment of a tribunal specialized in freedom democratic culture and knowledge of human rights. of expression on political-electoral matters. Although In the original productions, academics, researches, political it signals an opportunity for jurisdictional creativity and actors, electoral authorities and citizens expressed their innovation, regarding the use of new information and opinions, points of view and explained each of the stages communication technologies, it also points out the risk of a of the electoral process. potential overload of claims presented to TEPJF requesting Moreover, programs that disseminated the rights the annulment of elections. of children, of adolescents, of women, of the members of indigenous peoples and communities, and of the citizens in general were broadcasted (Source: Coordination of Social Communication of the TEPJF)
Fuente: Notimex
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Report on activities on Twitter by @TEPJF_informa Election Day, June 7, 2015
Dissemination period
During the elections of June 7, the twitter account of the TEPJF disseminated 121 messages in the period between 6:00 a.m. of June 6 and 11:59 p.m. of June 7.
Around 114,586 accounts interacted with the information disseminated by the @TEPJF_informa account, through shared followers, retweets, messages marked as favorites and direct references. The majority of the interactions were made by accounts with more than 10,000 followers.
121 messages were generated by the @TEPJF_informa account, with information on:
• Live broadcast from INE through Electoral Platform: -- Information spots -- Bulletins with analysis and relevant information regarding the electoral process -- Broadcasting of the programs ¡A Votar!, Justicia Electoral a la Semana, Sentencias a Debate, ExprésaTE and DiviérteTE -- Information graphics regarding the most relevant rulings of the High Chamber of the TEPJF • Data on the electoral process -- Types of electoral offices -- Electoral map -- Map of the electoral process • TEPJF graphics • FEPADE graphics
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Most relevant messages
Preview of the 2014-2015 Federal Electoral Process in Mexico Esta publicación se imprimió en junio de 2015 en la Coordinación de Comunicación Social del Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación.
Carlota Armero núm. 5000, colonia CTM Culhuacán, CP 04480, delegación Coyoacán, México, DF.
Su tiraje fue de 100 ejemplares.
Preview of the 2014-2015 Federal Electoral Process in Mexico: An International Perspective
Manuel González Oropeza Justice of the Supreme Court of Elections