Fabiola Martinez
Newspaper La Jornada
Friday June 17, 2022, p. 4
The president of the Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Power of the Federation (TEPJF), Reyes Rodríguez Mondragón, warned that the budget request of the electoral organisms must be respected by the congresses, without cuts, because independence and autonomy are related to the resources available
.
During a meeting with electoral authorities, he also said that efforts should be aimed at strengthening the independence of the organizations, closing the way to those who seek to limit, weaken and undermine them.
In a keynote address, Rodríguez Mondragón made no explicit mention of the reform promoted by President López Obrador, whose objective is to substantially reduce electoral spending.
It transpired that in court, Rodríguez reviewed the expenses of the superior room and instructed a reduction plan, for example of travel expenses.
For now, according to public information, both the TEPJF and the National Electoral Institute (INE) use most of their authorized resources to pay for personal services (salaries).
The INE has a budget of 19 thousand 736 million pesos for 2022, including transfers to parties (5 thousand 889 million), and personal services allocated 9 thousand 402 million.
Meanwhile, the TEPJF was authorized a general item of 4,775 million pesos (1,978 for the superior room and 2,797 for the regional ones). In the case of the first, the personal services section is equivalent to 82.48 percent of its budget, while in the regional ones it is 84.3.
Rodríguez Mondragón spoke yesterday that in order to achieve the proper functioning of the organisms, local powers must provide budgetary sufficiency to the institutions and, consequently, the budget projects presented by the electoral authorities to the state congresses must be respected, without interference from the government authority that cuts them down
.
