Denise Dresser ransomed AMLO for impeachment of INE directors: “Authoritarian behavior”

The war between the National Electoral Institute (INE) and the federal government does not stop, and this time a big step was taken to comply with the requests of the Fourth Transformation (Q4) against Councillors Lorenzo Córdova and Ciro Murayama.

On the afternoon of this Wednesday, March 16, it was announced that the Subcommittee on Prior Examination of the Chamber of Deputies will analyze the request for impeachment against election officials.

The legislative process was initiated at the request of the parliamentary group of the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), in response to restrictions imposed by the electoral body in the context of the closure for the Revocation of Mandate consultation.

Hamlet Almaguer, a Morenista deputy, released this information through his social networks. “The constitutional impeachment mechanism is activated against INE counselors Lorenzo Córdova and Ciro Murayama. We have been summoned to the installation session of the Subcommittee on Prior Examination tomorrow, March 17 at 16:00 hrs. This is step 1,” he wrote.

This message was shared by political scientist Denise Dresser, who took the opportunity to beat President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) for pushing this appeal against Córdova and Murayama.

According to the writer, an indicator of the “authoritarian behavior” shown by the Mexican president was also “activated”, who would have forgotten the process of lawlessness he suffered, because, according to Dresser, he was replicating that hard moment with his enemies.

“An indicator of authoritarian behavior described in “How Democracies Die” (Levitsky/Ziblatt) is also triggered: the threat of legal action against their adversaries. AMLO was the victim of lawlessness, but now it reproduces the factious use of institutions,” said the columnist.

Another legislator who welcomed the possible impeachment trial was Andrea Chávez, who reported that the first step was taken to counter the alleged “abuses and arbitrariness” of the electoral body, since, in her opinion, all the members of the institute have violated Morena's freedom of expression.

“Tomorrow, Morena's deputies will take the first step towards activating the impeachment trial against Ciro Murayama and Lorenzo Córdova following the INE's abuses and arbitrariness against freedom of expression and against our movement. Enough is enough,” he said.

So far, none of the councillors have spoken about this decision by the Chamber of Deputies. Only Murayama dedicated a few tweets to respond to criticism of the INE's work in the Mandate Revocation process.

In a first message, the electoral official said that this autonomous body does not hide boxes, as some people have hinted. In addition, he clarified that it will be until the end of March when the platform will be published to find the boxes closest to the location of the participants.

“No, the @INEMexico doesn't 'hide' boxes. Please, if we install them! The placement of boxes for the RM is scheduled to be published on the website on 28 March. That is, more in advance than in ordinary elections. Enough of the lies,” he stressed.

Also, in a later tweet, it welcomed the fact that the Electoral Tribunal of the Federation Judiciary (TEPJF) confirmed the INE's order addressed to the President of the Republic to refrain from promoting the Mandate Revocation process.

The General Coordination of Social Communication and Spokesperson of the Government of the Republic will also be requested to remove exclusively the content of publications containing expressions related to this popular consultation, specifically the morning conference on 28 February.

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