The National Electoral Institute (INE) called for suspending the full broadcast of the president’s morning conferences during the election period, which López Obrador called an act of “censorship” and “intolerance”.
“As censorship is already fashionable globally, censorship already wants to silence us and it really is an attitude of great intolerance, how they are going to take away the right of expression of manifestation, how they take away the right to information from the people,” the president exclaimed.
On January 11, during the first ‘Seminar on Violence and Peace’ of the year, organized by El Colegio de México, the inE’s president councillor said that the president’s “morning” conferences should be interrupted from the start of this year’s campaigns to the end of the day; which will begin from April 4.
Read also: INE must define precautionary measures so that AMLO does not talk about conference elections: TEPJF
Lorenzo Córdova Vianello stated that the Electoral Tribunal of the Judiciary of the Federation (TEPJF) noted that government propaganda, made during presidential broadcasts, is constitutionally prohibited during the electoral process.
For this reason, the media should not transmit them in full during the election period, but they can pick up fragments.
No one suggests suspending or cancelling president @lopezobrador_ The law states that their full broadcast should be suspended during election campaigns. The @INEMexico ensure legality and fairness in 2021 in accordance with its constitutional powers. pic.twitter.com/bjHPhcOIXi
— Lorenzo Córdova V. (@lorenzocordovav) January 12, 2021
Faced with this, the executive branch said the government would go to federal authorities to denounce the act he called ‘censorship’, ‘grievance’ and an ‘attack on freedom’.
He took the opportunity to summon mexicans to think if it is OK for the INE to ‘silence’ him, and that the president would not be able to report it.
“And don’t worry the director of the INE, we are not the same, we come from a struggle where we have always faced the undemocratic practices that he has endorsed.”
The president noted that Lorenzo Córdova has taken the “fat eye” in electoral fraud and violations of the law, as well as “delivering for slogan candidacies and registrations for new parties”
Background
On December 30 last year, the Complaints and Complaints Commission approved the application of precautionary measures to López Obrador, when the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) denounced the president’s external preferences during his conferences.
That is why last weekend, the Electoral Tribunal of the Judiciary of the Federation (TEPJF) asked the GENERAL Council of the INE to rule on the measures approved by the Committee on Complaints and Complaints calling on the president of the country to refrain from commenting against opposition parties
The INE requested the representative to adhere to the duty of neutrality, to which he is obliged as a public servant, because otherwise the rights of those involved in the elections would be jeopardized.
Lorenzo Córdova stated, for his part, that the decision on suspension was discussed at the General Council and could be applied to all public officials who came to do something similar.
Córdova Vianello noted that the president’s ‘mañaneras’ will have to be suspended from April 4, or sooner for states that begin their electoral process beforehand, and no means of communication should make a full transmission of them.
There will be exceptions to show high-profile topics, such as health, COVID-19 pandemic issues, civil protection and education. In addition, the media will be allowed to issue excerpts from the conferences.
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