MEXICO.- The Electoral Court of the Federation's Judiciary (TEPJF in Spanish) will analyze today in a plenary session the challenging claim filed by Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the left-wing parties he represents in which they asked for the annulment of the presidential elections held back in July 01.
If this claim is rejected in the public session to start at 5 pm local time (11 pm GMT), the election will have to wait for the final ruling which would make Enrique Peña Nieto, from the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI) the president elect at the latest by September 06.
Sources from the High Court confirmed to EFE that a summary of the "affronts presented by the contesting part", the Progressive Movement, is expected to be read in this afternoon's session; they also plan to analyze and draft an opinion.
The Left argues that the media favored Enrique Peña Nieto, virtual winner of the elections; it also cites an alleged disregard by his party of the financial limits set by law for the campaign and a supposed tampering of the surveys to create a favorable public perception of Peña Nieto among other things.
The seven judges of the TEPJF will draft an opinion about the case, it will be analyzed by Judges Flavio Galván Rivera, Constancio Carrasco and Salvador Olimpo Nava; they will present their arguments both in favor and against the case.
After that will come the voting, crucial for the future of the elections, being this the "mother judgment", the most important of all, since it questions the presidential elections from last July 01 in its entirety and asks for its annulment.
There must be at least six of the seven judges of the Supreme Court of the TEPJF at the public session, and the vote in favor or against the draft will be resolved by "simple majority", said the court sources to EFE.
The TEPJF, presided by Judge Alejandro Luna Ramos, has not disclose the draft's direction, but a number of Mexican newspapers released versions yesterday in which the trend points to validating the elections and to reject the contestation by López Obrador.
Regarding today's session, the PRI's representative before the Electoral Institute of the Federation (IFE), Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, said that the politic branch was expecting a decision in favor of Enrique Peña Nieto.
"We expect a positive ruling that recognizes the definiteness of Enrique Peña Nieto's victory as President of the Republic," and "that gives the people certainty with the explanation given in the prose that will compose this ruling," he stated to the MVS station.
The officer explained that, aside from firm "legal ground" it is also necessary for the TEPJF judges to offer sufficient arguments to "socially explain it" and avoid "living as prisoners of the complot theory."
On his part, Senator Pablo Gómez, from the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD in Spanish), criticized the Electoral Court and said he expects "the consummation of failed authority" this afternoon if they rule against López Obrador.
The Mexican leftwing has said that Peña Nieto won because he "bought" approximately five million votes through different means, protected by alleged evidence already presented.
Gómez said that, with what has been happening up until now before electoral authorities, it has been proved that they "don't live up to their country" because "they haven't found out anything" and because in the analyzed cases they didn't go through all that was accused, only through the part "they thought was important."
"No court in the world does that for basic decency, even if only for shame. This does not exist in our TEPJF", he added.
The contestation submitted for analysis today will be the last of 378 presented to the TEPJF, from which 27 were rejected and one more stayed awaiting for the last, popularly known as the "mother judgement."
editorial@sandiegored.com
Original Text : EFE Agency
Translation: Karen.balderas@sandiegored.com
