Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum. Photo: Google

By MARK LORENZANA

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, who earlier this week contracted covid-19 for the second time, has been formally investigated by the National Electoral Institute (INE) for allegedly engaging in early campaigning for the June 7, 2024, Mexican presidential elections.

Through an official letter, the INE asked Sheinbaum on Thursday, June 16, to clarify if she is to be a candidate of the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) for the presidency of Mexico.

INE, through the letter, specifically asked Sheinbaum to explain a statement that she made before the media, on May 22, in a political event in the the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas. She said that Mexico was ready to have a woman president.

“Mexico is ready for a president, for an astronaut, for an engineer. Mexican women have been ready for a long time,” Sheinbaum said in the press conference, which was mainly in support for then-Morena candidate for governor of Tamaulipas, Américo Villarreal Anaya, who ultimately won his bid in the June Mexican gubernatorial elections.

The INE warned that if Sheinbaum did not respond to the letter, a public reprimand will be imposed on the Mexico City mayor.

In May, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) filed a complaint with the INE against Sheinbaum for her statements in the Tamaulipas press conference.

Ricardo Monreal Ávila, a member of Morena and Sheinbaum’s party mate, also hinted that the Mexico City mayor is guilty of early campaigning — along with other Morena members.

Monreal Ávila was referring to the massive electoral rally by Morena leaders in Toluca, the capital of the State of Mexico (Edoméx) on Sunday, June 12, where possible presidential candidates for 2024 were presented as a show of unity: Sheinbaum, Mexican Foreign Relations (SRE) Secretary Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón and Interior (SeGob) Secretary Adán Augusto López Hernández. Monreal Ávila was not invited to the Morena gathering in Toluca.

Sheinbaum announced on the evening of Wednesday June 15, through her Twitter account, that she had tested positive for covid-19 — for the second time. She first contracted covid-19 on Oct. 27, 2020.