By KELIN DILLON

After years of threatening to reduce the efficacy of Mexico’s National Electoral Institute (INE), Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) administration and National Regeneration Movement (Morena) – acting under López Obrador’s Fourth Transformation (4T) campaign promise – finally attempted to make good on its promise, proposing to slash the INE’s requested budget for 2023 by 4.475 billion pesos.

The 4T’s move against the INE was made within Mexico’s Federation Expenditure Budget for 2023, which was discussed by the Budget Commission of the Chamber of Deputies on the afternoon of Monday, Nov. 7, and saw the INE’s annual budget reduced from 24.69 billion pesos to 20.221 billion pesos for the year 2023.

The INE isn’t the only sector set to receive a lower budget than requested; the Judiciary, Supreme Court, and Judicial Council were also allocated budgets with a multi-billion peso differential than initially asked for, while the Chamber of Deputies itself only received a drop of 295 million pesos for its deputies’ expenses and the Senate just 140 million less for its senators.

In terms of the INE’s fellow autonomous bodies, the Superior Audit Office of the Federation (ASF) had its proposed budget slashed by 122 million pesos, the Federal Institute for Access to Public Information and Data Protection (INAI) lessened by 18.6 million pesos, the Federal Economic Competition Commission (Cofece) reduced by 33.5 million pesos, and the Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT) taken down by 17.9 million pesos

Meanwhile, the Secretariat of Welfare is set to receive a budget increase of 6.34 billion pesos in the year 2023, with an additional 47.5 million pesos going to the Secretariat of the Interior.

Now, the Federation Expenditure Budget for 2023 – and subsequently, the INE budget cuts – will continue to be discussed by the Chamber of Deputies beginning on Tuesday, Nov. 8, where the legislators will debate over if the “various modifications are proposed to the INE budget project, which, it is considered, do not violate the objective of the institute or the development of its essential functions.”

The discussion over the Federation Expenditure Budget for 2023 is expected to last several days as members of Morena and opposition parties like the National Action Party (PAN) and Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) present their arguments on the topic, though PAN deputy Patricia Terrazas anticipated that Morena would be unwilling to compromise or negotiate on the matter.

For Rubén Moreira, the PRI coordinator said, “The debate in the plenary session is expected to be Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The PRI will vote against its passage, and our deputies are going to present a thousand reservations.”

 “Of course they want to get rid of the INE and the first battle will be in the budget, proposed to be 24 percent less than requested, while they subsidize the millionaire losses of the Felipe Angeles Airport (AIFA) and the ineptitude of Manuel Bartlett and Octavio Romero, in the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) and Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex),” concluded Citizen’s Movement (MC) caucus leader Jorge Álvarez.