What changes does the electoral reform have?
Former electoral adviser Arturo Sánchez told Political Expansion that the so-called “plan B” seeks to eliminate, in the period of pre-campaigns and campaigns, those sanctions that precisely prevented candidates and parties from infringing the law on auditing.
“For example, as in the case of Félix Salgado Macedonio (whose candidacy for Guerrero was withdrawn, Now, the issue is not that it be sanctioned. The only thing is that it will no longer be sanctioned with the withdrawal of the candidacy and the withdrawal of the candidacy was a sufficiently strong threat so that, precisely, the candidates did not violate the law”, he notes.
For the political scientist Javier Rosiles Salas, “softening” the sanctions on parties and candidates will not prevent them from committing an electoral infraction “and in this case, the sanction is so minor that it will not prevent the crime from being committed. In fact, it is predictable that (an electoral infraction) will be committed.”
Added to this, he said, is the fact that the parties will be able to make their “snacks”, that is, savings in non-electoral times, with which they will surely seek to pay for the infractions they incur.
The also political scientist Fernando Dworak He commented that parties and candidates are obliged to account for the public resources that are granted to them and present their pre-campaign or campaign reports, in a timely manner.
However, he observed that on many occasions, “all the candidates are going to lie about their income, all the candidates are going to hide things”, in the end, the inspection will be complicated.
For true accountability
“Now, surely, (parties and candidates) will not submit their reports and will be sanctioned in another way; financially and the party will pay, which does not translate into true accountability for electoral expenses,” notes former councilor Sánchez Gutiérrez.
In the academic’s opinion, for the initiative to reform secondary laws, the important thing is not democracy, but saving money, regardless of the fact that the proposals that are made will affect the quality of the electoral process.
“And in terms of sanctions and control of the parties, it seeks to open the door and break the locks that existed to avoid fraud or violations of the law, which guaranteed certain certainty and fairness in the contest,” he stresses.
Regarding the fact that the new electoral rules lead to violence, he states that this depends on how the INE is organized to solve this type of problem.
“It seems to me that with the staff cuts and weight loss that is taking place, it is going to be very difficult for the INE to hold an election,” warns the also academic.
