The irregularities
In the reports, the UTF detected six cases of exceeding the campaign spending limits in the case of candidates for deputies and senators and 63 in the case of candidates in local elections (governors, candidates for mayors, councilors) for which they were guaranteed a hearing and are within the deadline to present their clarifications.
The report also found cases in which national and local parties failed to allocate 50% of funding for female candidates, and will be brought to the attention of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Electoral Crimes (FISEL), the Technical Unit for Electoral Disputes (UTCE) and the corresponding Local Public Electoral Body (OPL).
Regarding the PVEM influencers, it was agreed to add to the report the findings that were made during the audit, consisting of payments that the party did not report.
Evidence will also be added, such as a report of events and a description of videos in the case of some “deposit carousels” and of which there would be recorded evidence.
Some of the most recurrent behaviors detected, as in every election, were unreported expenses, unverified expenditure, and unreported expenditure of polling station representatives.
Sanctions criteria
The draft resolutions that will be voted on by the General Council of the INE were approved in Commission with flexible criteria: it was decided by majority to send it to an informal procedure and to resolve and sanction, if necessary, later, the continuation of propaganda of partisan processes carried out even before the electoral process began, which continued in the campaign and therefore could have benefited federal and local candidates.
Just as examples, the propaganda of the presidential and local “bottle caps” of Morena that was placed since 2023 and was maintained in the campaigns until May 2024, or that of the opposition candidates who were promoted in their own internal party processes.
All of these, when sent to unofficial proceedings, will be sanctioned in the coming months, and not before the qualification of the elections.
In addition, it was agreed by a divided vote not to determine the possible benefit that federal and local candidates would have obtained from personalized inter-campaign propaganda (which was placed in the formal internal processes at the end of 2023 and beginning of 2024) that was maintained and could have had an impact on campaign oversight.
In these cases, it was only decided to “give notice” to the Executive Secretariat of the INE or the OPLES – depending on the level of election – in order for them to make a statement on possible early campaign actions.
The councillors also decided to modify the criteria regarding the amounts with which certain behaviours should be sanctioned, with increases in some cases, but subject to changes in the session on Monday.
The councillors Jorge Montaño Ventura, president of the Commission, and Ucc Kib Espadas voted against the increase in fines, who however, in the General Council usually vote in agreement with the president councillor Taddei and another group of councillors, in order to form a majority, which anticipates that the easing of fines will be successful.
Thus, at the session of the Oversight Committee, it was proposed to increase fines for unreported expenses from 100 to 150% of the amount involved (as was done before 2018), but with the vote of three out of five councilors, this change was rejected.
However, the amount involved was increased from 50% to 100% of the penalty on expenditures that the parties reported but did not verify.
The spending limit for election-level spending was also slightly increased, from 10% to 15%, as was the fine for parties that did not submit campaign reports for the periods to be audited.
The fourth criterion established was to increase the fine from 10 to 100 Units of Measurement and Update for the conduct of failing to submit a report of campaign income and expenses in the Comprehensive Oversight System, even if operations have been detected.
In addition, an increase in the sanction from 10 to 30 UMAS was approved for registering operations in the SIF, completing the report, but not presenting it with the formality of the responsible party’s signature.
The criterion of sanctioning unproven withdrawal of independent candidates with a 40% penalty will be maintained, unless otherwise voted.
The proposal to increase sanctions consisting of cancellation of campaign events attended by INE authorities for verification was rejected, whether or not there is a report from the parties on the reasons why the event could not be held, for which 5 UMAS will be required.
Likewise, the majority agreed not to increase the severity of the irregularity that consists of reporting expenses on advertising (walls, tarpaulins, t-shirts, flags, shirts) but not providing the authority with any sample or witness that proves its existence. This violation will be considered “formal” and not substantive, so it will not result in a greater sanction.
The audit was carried out on 1,309 candidates from political parties or coalitions and two independent candidates at the federal level. In total, they submitted 6,478 reports through the SIF, in which they reported income of 3,791 million 853 thousand 285 pesos and expenses of 3,810 million 483 thousand 912 pesos.
At the local level, the review was carried out on 19,749 candidates from political parties, coalitions and 120 independent candidates in the 32 states, who presented 35,501 reports to the SIF, with income of 3,750 million 214 thousand pesos and expenses of 3,630 million 464 thousand 459 pesos.
