Talleres Gráficos de México governance decree, Digi Mart USA News (Mexico): President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that next week she will present a decree to modify the governance structure of Talleres Gráficos de México (TGM), the agency responsible for producing ballots and electoral documentation. The announcement follows allegations of irregularities in the hiring of suppliers by the Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE).
The proposal would expand the integration of TGM’s Board of Directors with representatives from more federal agencies. It would also add the Auditoría Superior de la Federación (ASF) as an observer and include academic institutions such as the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) and the Tecnológico de Monterrey.
During her morning press conference, Sheinbaum said the goal is to strengthen the operation and governance of Talleres Gráficos and expand its capacity to produce most of the materials used in electoral processes. She argued that inputs requiring the highest security measures, particularly electoral ballots, should be produced by the Mexican state company, while other products such as ballot boxes and voting booths could be manufactured by domestic private companies.
Sheinbaum said dozens of Mexican companies have the capacity to produce these materials. She therefore considered it necessary to establish transparent procurement procedures with clear rules, public tenders and price ranges that avoid unjustified differences between electoral bodies.
The proposal also seeks to reduce intermediaries in the acquisition of electoral materials and prevent a small group of companies from concentrating contracts from the INE and state-level electoral bodies.
The changes come after Secretary of Anticorruption and Good Government Raquel Buenrostro presented alleged irregularities in electoral materials contracting. These led to questions about INE officials and the subsequent resignation of then-council president Guadalupe Taddei.
Sheinbaum maintained that strengthening Talleres Gráficos must be accompanied by oversight and transparency mechanisms to ensure that acquisitions and production of electoral materials take place under conditions of competition and accountability.
