Sheinbaum proposes cutting INE budget for 2027 election year, Digi Mart USA News (Mexico City): Following a alleged corruption scandal during the presidency of Guadalupe Taddei at the National Electoral Institute (INE), Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that savings could be made in the organization’s 2027 budget.
However, she acknowledged that reducing the INE’s budget is a power of the Chamber of Deputies, not the presidency. Regarding a possible cut, Sheinbaum said the goal would be to bring the institute’s budget “to a range consistent with what it was in 2024, 2025 and 2026.”
“Now, with everything we know, it is very likely that savings can be made within the INE,” she said at the National Palace. During her press conference, Sheinbaum recalled that Taddei, now the former council president, proposed a budget of 47 billion pesos for 2027, which, she said, her government did not agree with.
“We did not agree, however, we cannot modify it, because the law establishes that to present the Federal Expenditure Budget, in the case of autonomous bodies, we must deliver to Congress exactly what they presented to us.”
Following the allegations and Taddei’s subsequent resignation from the INE, the president said it is necessary to strengthen transparency and oversight mechanisms for procurement by the electoral body, as well as by state electoral bodies (OPLE). The aim, she said, is to provide certainty for the 2027 elections.
During her Thursday press conference, Sheinbaum urged the INE’s internal control bodies and the Superior Audit Office of the Federation (ASF) to review contracts and establish mechanisms to guarantee transparency in electoral processes. “Of course the internal control bodies and the Superior Audit must do their work.
I think it is very important to give certainty to the 2027 election, after all that has been found.”
She also said the 10 electoral councilors and the provisional council president, Blanca Yassahara Cruz, must ensure that the organization’s future contracts are carried out under clear and transparent rules. She also asked state electoral bodies to adopt similar guidelines to prevent irregularities in the acquisition of materials and services related to elections.
Sheinbaum also reiterated her call to strengthen Talleres Gráficos de México, a decentralized federal government agency for editorial and printing services, so that it could take control of electoral material production. She explained that few companies manufacture paper for ballots and that, when the institute lacks sufficient capacity, it turns to external suppliers.
For this reason, she argued that the chain of custody in the manufacture of ballots and other materials should be made transparent, and that participation should be opened to more suppliers through unit costs and previously established guidelines.
The current crisis at the INE began with an investigation presented by Anti-Corruption and Good Government Secretary Raquel Buenrostro Sánchez into an alleged network of companies that obtained electoral contracts. According to the investigation, brothers José Alfredo and Raymundo Francisco Hernández Casillas obtained contracts worth 2,094 million pesos between 2015 and 2023 through 23 of the 32 state electoral bodies.
Between 2024 and 2025, the companies obtained another 646.3 million pesos in contracts with 15 local bodies. Together, the contracts cited totaled more than 2,740 million pesos.
The official said the companies allegedly pretended to compete against each other in tenders, used front persons and, in some cases, lacked infrastructure, employees and operational capacity. The investigation also pointed to possible money laundering operations and links to invoicing companies still under investigation.
On Thursday, the president linked members of the Somos México party to the network of companies that obtained electoral contracts worth more than 2,740 million pesos. She singled out Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo, leader of Somos Mx, and Juan Carlos Padilla Aguilar, the party’s leader in the State of Mexico.
According to Buenrostro’s investigation, the relationship between Juan Carlos Padilla Aguilar and the Hernández Casillas brothers dates back to the 1980s, when José Alfredo worked as private secretary to Padilla at the National Population and Personal Identification Registry of the Secretariat of the Interior. Later, after being named secretary general of the National Security and Investigation Center (Cisen) in 1989, Aguilar brought Hernández Casillas with him, while his brother Raymundo Francisco joined the investigations area.
The brothers later left public service and began developing businesses related to the manufacture and marketing of electoral materials. According to the government presentation, Cartonera Plástica, a company linked to José Alfredo Hernández Casillas, was already acting as an electoral supplier in the State of Mexico in 1999.
In 2005, the company obtained a contract for 63.7 million pesos from the state electoral institute.
Complaints about alleged irregularities and bribery in that award led to a scandal that ended with the resignation of seven electoral councilors, according to the secretary’s account.
“And, oh, surprise! Today he is one of the most prominent members of the Somos party.
Whose party is Somos? Lorenzo Córdova’s, and all of them linked to Acosta,” Sheinbaum said about Juan Carlos Padilla.
Somos México president Acosta Naranjo rejected any relationship with the Hernández Casillas brothers. In an interview with Pascal Beltrán del Río for Primera Emisión on Imagen Radio, Acosta Naranjo said his organization has opposed decisions made at the INE and denied any link to the contractors named.
“There are a thousand testimonies that we have been opponents of what they have done with the INE.” The leader even challenged those pointing at him to present evidence of his relationship with the businessmen. “If they show me a photo, not a video like those the press has distributed, just one photo, I will resign from the leadership of Somos and go and turn myself in.”
Beyond the personal accusations, Acosta Naranjo questioned the concentration of powers in the INE presidency and argued that collegiate bodies, which he said functioned as checks within the institution, had been weakened. “With those superpowers they made these one-sided, abusive contracts, and this thing, the correct word is obscene.” He described the management of the body as “unipersonal, discretionary, against a body that is collegiate by nature.”
He also warned that the discussion about alleged irregularities is taking place while a new process is being prepared to select the INE presidency. “They are using the same formula they used to name Taddei,” he said, questioning the makeup of the body responsible for evaluating candidate profiles and the subsequent appointment.
Acosta Naranjo said investigations should continue and responsibilities should be sanctioned, but warned that the debate over corruption should not divert attention from the functioning and autonomy of the institute. “It is right that we fight corruption and must punish it, with energy, so there is clarity.
It is not the institution, it is this assault by Morena, which corrupts everything it touches.”
Finally, he argued that decisions made around the INE represent a setback for an institution whose construction, he said, was tied to decades of struggle for democracy in Mexico. “What a lack of respect for the memory of those who fought for democracy in this country!”
