Emilio Álvarez Icaza urged the SCJN to clarify the vote count on the Electricity Industry Law

The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) has yet to clarify the vote at the April 7 session in which the 2021 reform of the Electricity Industry Law (LIE) was analyzed and that thanks to the votes of four ministers, the constitutionality of these changes was determined that these changes allow the CFE to take priority in the order of dispatch of electricity regardless of whether it is renewable sources or not, a situation that was celebrated by the President of the Republic, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

The independent senator, Emilio Álvarez Icaza, told the presiding minister, Arturo Zaldívar, to carry out an improper count and in agreement with the legislator that the eight votes were reached to declare the unconstitutionality of the amended articles in 2021 and considered that the action of the president of the plenary was to favor the interests of the Executive Branch.

On that occasion, the votes of Ministers Loretta Ortiz, Yasmín Esquivel, that of Arturo Zaldivar himself and that of Alfredo Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena were sufficient, but for the senator of the Plural Group there were irregularities in the procedure for obtaining the votes, which is why he submitted legal remedies to the SCJN to explain in detail the meaning of the vote of each member.

The clarification on the vote of that session should have been carried out this Monday, however, in a private meeting the Plenary of the Court would have decided to postpone the signing of the minutes of the sitting until Tuesday.

Álvarez Icaza pointed out that the SCJN tried to avoid this clarification and insisted that “the health of the Republic must be clarified. The Court cannot be at fault and leave in doubt what happened” and argued that a minister and two ministers pointed out that there were 8 votes.

Regarding this process in the highest court, the senator stressed that if in the bill that proposed an extension for Arturo Zaldívar as president of the Court, the decision had been endorsed with only four votes, then “we would be faced with the fact that a minority had resolved it and would have validated the unconstitutional extension ”.

On Monday, the Plenary of the Supreme Court dismissed the constitutional dispute promoted by the Federal Commission for Economic Competition (Cofece) against the decree amending the Electricity Industry Law, determining that these precepts do not produce a principle of affection or grievance in the area of competence of that body and therefore has no legitimate interest in bringing the appeal.

Following the Court's ruling, on April 8, the chief executive welcomed the decision to guarantee that the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) has priority in power generation.

“I want to inform the people of Mexico that the resolution of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) to declare the LIE constitutional was a historic, patriotic decision for the benefit of the people of Mexico, for the benefit of the nation. We didn't want to talk much earlier about the importance of the Court's ruling on this matter because we knew the significance and interest of the group that was abusing the legal framework built during the neoliberal period to destroy the CFE and hold all Mexican consumers hostage to do juicy business. to profit. So the damage was repaired yesterday, people were protected so that in the future there will be no abuse of increases in electricity rates, which is why I am very happy,” López Obrador said at his morning conference.

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