The National Electoral Institute (INE) cancelled the registration of David Monreal as a candidate for the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) for the governorship of Zacatecas. The INE said that Monreal had failed to submit pre-campaign reports.
Ciro Murayama, of the INE, said that turning in two pre-campaign reports is required for all candidates and parties.
“There is no general supervision of pre-campaigns, which is why we require candidates to submit reports,” he said.
Murayama emphasized that in a democracy, honesty must be demonstrated by complying with audits and inspections.
“The electoral authority has no friends,” said Murayama. “Oversight applies to everyone.”
Murayama, who is also president of the Oversight Commission, said that when attempts to hide campaign expenditures are discovered, they are always punished according to the law.
“Sometimes these punishments are quite severe, but they are in the law,” he said.
Monreal claimed that his case was not given a hearing, which Murayama denied. The decision to disqualify Monreal passed with nine votes in favor and two opposed.
Horacio Duarte, a representative from Morena, said that the INE’s decision represents “an assault against the political rights” of Monreal. Duarte said that Morena is appealing the ruling to the Federal Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF).
He said that the decision “violates all international treaties signed by Mexico, that violates the constitution and violates the parameters of political and electoral rights.”
Duarte said that the objective of going to the TEPJF is to demand that David Monreal appear on the ballot in Zacatecas for the June 5 election.
The president of the INE, Lorenzo Córdova, said that contact between the INE and candidates is always mediated by the political parties.
“I think this is an important issue,” he said. “We can’t make this a common practice going forward. We’re going to need to rewrite the regulations. There needs to be some kind of notification for candidates to protect the organization of elections.”
Benito Naif Hernández and Javier Santiago Castillo were the two members of the INE who voted against disqualifying Monreal.
Hernández still thinks that the decision should be revisited, and says that Monreal was deprived of his right to a hearing.
“The right to a hearing means that you not only must be notified, but also that you have the opportunity to defend yourself,” said Hernández. “Applying this severe sanction threatens human rights not only of the candidate, of David Monreal, by denying him the right to a hearing. The ruling needs to be repealed.”