Fabiola Martinez
La Jornada Newspaper
Sunday, October 12, 2025, p. 4
Faced with an electoral reform that proposes reducing spending in this sector, according to statements by members of the Executive Branch, almost a thousand workers of the National Electoral Institute (INE) signed up for the voluntary retirement program that offers, in addition to the settlement stipulated by the law and its internal regulations, an additional payment.
The accumulation of files to be reviewed so far amounts to 970, a number that “exceeded expectations,” said INE officials, hence the deadline for the process had to be extended, in order to review the requests of both the administrative branch personnel (707) and the national electoral professional service (263), from a general list of just over 18 thousand positions throughout the country.
“It is necessary to give viability (to the administration management) since what is expected exceeds expectations; it is a very extensive effort that will have to be made, much greater than what we expected,” declared the executive secretary of the INE, Claudia Arlett Espino.
For the payment of the stimulus, a general pool of 100 million pesos was set, although whoever has the longest time in the body will have priority; The minimum to enter the plan is 10 years of seniority.
The benefit is made up of three months of gross earnings, plus 20 days per year of service.
This year, the INE has a budget of around 20 billion pesos (this does not include public financing for parties or specific resources for elections or citizen consultations).
By 2026, the request amounts to 15.1 billion as a base budget (the core of which goes into the payment of personal services or salaries) and ordinary projects; He also requested 3,119 million in this package as a precautionary budget in case a popular consultation is held; In addition, 7,737 will go as prerogatives to political parties.
For her part, counselor Claudia Zavala pointed out that although the INE approved her budget request and sent it to the Treasury Secretariat so that it could in turn deliver it to the Chamber of Deputies, the Executive removed what corresponds to the precautionary budget, when the deadline to determine whether or not there is citizen consultation expires next November.
For this reason, the counselor pointed out the point to the Treasury and, above all, that a possible cut comes from the Legislature, not the Executive.
“They did not send our budget as we approved it, they were already made aware of this situation because our budget contains the precautionary. If I add to that the cut that Congressman Monreal (Morena) publicly expressed, they would once again place us in a very complex situation.” He clarified, contrary to what the legislator said, that next year there will be an electoral process, since it begins in September although it will take place until 2027.
