The electoral reform marks the last clash between the Government and the Supreme Court

Deputies of Movimiento Ciudadano filed a claim of unconstitutionality of the electoral reform before the Supreme Court. Mario Jasso

The electoral reform, or rather, Plan B by which the Government modifies various laws on electoral matters through a decree, has caused the last great clash between the Executive and the Judiciary.

The new confrontation is a matter of jurisdiction.

The Supreme Court admitted for processing on Friday a constitutional controversy presented by the INE and issued the precautionary suspension of the decree approved in Congress and its effects, so that the changes introduced are annulled until a new date.

This Sunday, the Executive responded to the Court that it is not among its functions to admit a constitutional controversy in electoral matters, since the Constitution does not contemplate it.

“The Constitution only authorizes the Supreme Court to hear controversies where the constitutionality of general rules, acts or omissions is questioned, with the exception of those that refer to electoral matters;

that is, there is an express constitutional restriction so that the electoral rules are not discussed among the State bodies, since it is not the function of the electoral referee to question the legal norms issued by the Legislative power”, maintain the legal services of the Government.

The statement comes a day after the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, publicly beat up both the INE and the Supreme Court, of whose members he said that "their only God is money" and accused them, during his trip to Quintana Roo this Saturday, of being "the same mafia, conservatives who reject democracy, supporters of the oligarchy."

The statement issued this Sunday also exudes anger against the Court: "The people of Mexico must know that it is not common for the Court to publicly announce such a relevant determination on a Friday night and without formally notifying the authorities."

In turn, it criticizes that it was a single constitutional judge who annulled the decree and not through "a final sentence approved by at least eight ministers."

This point is the most confusing, because if the Court cannot rule on electoral matters, it could be understood that neither one nor eight ministers will be able to do so.

In the note sent by the Presidency to the media, the Supreme Court is accused of "modifying the jurisprudential precedents" and of "completely annulling the presumption of constitutional validity that all general norms have."

The Executive is against the precautionary suspension measure because "it is false that [with the decree] the fundamental rights of the citizenry are put at risk, as well as the organization of the elections, since there is no electoral process in progress." , they point out.

On the contrary, in its resolution on Friday, the Court understands that the case it deals with may involve a "possible violation of the political and electoral rights of the citizenry", for which reason it is appropriate to grant the suspension.

The Executive also finds it "worrying" that Minister Laynez Potisek suspends "the application of the entire decree when the INE did not request it in this way, since it did not even challenge all of the regulations, but only those that it considers may affect the operation of the institute.

The conflict between the INE and President López Obrador is being fought by chapters.

Last Tuesday, the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary reversed the electoral plan B by declaring a transitory article of the reform inapplicable, in such a way that it left without effect the dismissal of the executive secretary of the INE, Edmundo Jacobo.

Days before, a federal judge had granted Jacobo an injunction, so he returned to his post to the applause of his colleagues in the agency.

López Obrador referred to it in his conference: “There was a party at the INE and all the media applauding because they had reinstated a member who has been there for 30 years and 15 as a key INE official.

They already see that 'the INE is not touched', so those of the Judiciary give it protection, which are the same”.

He accused the secretary of "having tolerated fraud, that's why he's there," he said.

“And all of his chicks and friends and associates applauding him,” he added.

"If this is the first defeat of plan B, then it fills me with pride to lose like that," he said then.

But plan B goes from defeat to defeat, this time with a train crash noise between the Executive and the Judiciary that will bring new chapters soon.

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