Edmundo Jacobo: What was your role within the INE and why was it important?

Edmundo Jacobo Molina announced his resignation as executive secretary of the National Electoral Institute (INE), which will be effective as of this Monday, April 3, when Lorenzo Córdova’s term as president of the body ends.

The official said at a press conference that the institutional design that the INE sought was broken by political actors with the arrival of the electoral reform. “They made the technical operation necessarily impartialpart of the political debate.

Jacobo Molina’s departure occurs weeks after the ‘plan B’ of the electoral reform was approved, which had the effect of removing him from his position, although weeks later he was reinstated.

In addition, the official’s resignation will be one day before the entry of the new president counselor and three other members of the INE General Council, who were accused of conflicts of interest due to their closeness to Morena.

However, Molina said that he is not leaving to avoid a witch hunt, and that he showed that he was “right” about his career and that that was enough for him.

Since when was Edmundo Jacobo Molina at the INE?

The official was in charge of the Executive Secretariat of the INE since June 2008, that is, he lasted more than 14 and a half years at the institute.

This situation provoked controversy and criticism from President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, since he said that Jacobo Molina wanted to stay at the INE for life.

The official said that his resignation is irrevocable, since he is not encouraged to preserve himself in an institution, but rather to defend the law. Furthermore, he said that unlike those who branded his attitude and accused him of wanting to stay in the same position for years, the “commitment to the INE is to defend a heritage built over three decades”.

Edmundo Jacobo Molina: What were you doing at the INE?

According to the information on the INE website, Jacobo Molina was basically dedicated to “directing the development of the activities entrusted in the applicable provisions, as well as those assigned by the General Council and the Executive General Board. For the exercise of his functions, he makes use of the administrative units attached to his charge with the purpose of carrying out the electoral processes developed by the Institute.”

Some other functions carried out by the INE Executive Secretariat are:

• Attest to the performance of acts and events in electoral matters that could influence or affect equity in electoral contests.
• Verify facts that affect the organization of the electoral process.
• Request the collaboration of public notaries to help the electoral function during the development of elections.

Activities related to article 51 of the General Law of Electoral Institutions and Processes

• Legally represent the Institute.
• Act as secretary of the General Council with voice but no vote.
• Comply with the agreements of the General Council.
• Submit to the knowledge of the General Council the matters within its competence.
• Function as an electoral official by itself, or through the secretaries of the local and district executive boards, or other public servants of the Institute to whom said function is delegated with respect to electoral acts or facts.
• Guide and coordinate the actions of the executive directorates and of the local and district executive boards.
• Participate in agreements that are entered into with the competent authorities regarding the information and documents to be provided by the Executive Directorate of the Federal Register of Voters for local electoral processes.
• Sign the agreements that the Institute celebrates with the electoral authorities to assume the organization of local electoral processes.
• Assist the Comptroller General in the procedures for monitoring the resources and assets of the Institute and in the procedures for the determination of responsibilities and the imposition of sanctions.
• Approve the structure of the executive directorates, committees and other bodies.
• Appoint the members of the local and district executive boards from among the members of the National Electoral Professional Service.
• Provide the Institute’s bodies with the necessary elements for the fulfillment of their functions.
• Establish a mechanism for the immediate dissemination in the General Council of the preliminary results of the elections for deputies, senators and President of the United Mexican States, obtained by political parties and candidates; for this you will have a computer system to collect preliminary results.
• Act as secretary of the Executive General Board and prepare the agenda of its sessions.
• Receive the reports of the executive members of the local and district executive boards and report to the President of the Council.
• Substantiate the resources that must be resolved by the Executive General Board or process those that are filed against the acts or resolutions of the latter.
• Support the performance of relevant studies or procedures to know the electoral trends on the day of the election day
• Prepare annually the draft budget of the Institute to submit it to the consideration of the President of the Council.
• Exercising the approved budget items.
• Grant powers on behalf of the Institute for acts of ownership, administration and to be represented before any administrative or judicial authority, or before individuals.
• Prepare the comprehensive calendar project for ordinary electoral processes, as well as extraordinary elections.
• Inform the requesting Chamber of the Congress of the union about the result of the revision of the percentage indicated in article 71, section IV, of the Constitution.
• Exercise the function of the electoral official and issue the certifications that are required in the INE.