The constitutional controversy was filed by INE on March 9 | Photo: SCJ
Havana, Mar 26 (RHC) Mexico's Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) on Friday halted the implementation of the electoral reform promoted by the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The SCJN suspended for an indefinite period the entry into force of Plan B by admitting the constitutional controversy filed by the National Electoral Institute (INE).
The highest court of the country informed that this controversy is to be analyzed by Minister Javier Laynez Potisek.
The judge admitted the lawsuit and granted the suspension "requested by INE concerning all the challenged articles of the decree to the effect that things remain in the state in which they are today and that the provisions in force before the respective reform shall govern".
Once the appeal has been admitted for processing, Minister Laynez must receive the arguments of the Executive and Legislative branches regarding this reform, prepare a draft ruling, and propose it to the plenary of the SCJN, which has no date to be finalized.
This ruling comes at a time when the opposition to President López Obrador has filed judicial appeals to stop the Mexican Government's reform on electoral matters, known as Plan B after a previous one did not reach the majority in Congress to become law.
The so-called "Plan B" of the electoral reform approved in the Senate reduces the budget and personnel of the National Electoral Institute (INE), the institution that organizes elections in Mexico.
Before the entry into force of the reform, the opposition and the INE challenged the changes and filed injunctions in court to prevent the changes from proceeding, which will now be suspended.
The Mexican President defends that the measures will allow saving millions of dollars (he described as "stratospheric" the salaries of INE's top officials) and assures that they will make voting more efficient.
He also accuses the agency of not being impartial and of having allowed electoral fraud in the past, for which he had promised to modify it since he became president of the country.
