Jaime Rivera, Dania Ravel, and Claudia Zavala bid farewell from the National Electoral Institute's (INE) General Council in their last in-person session before April 4. They urged remaining counselors and the Professional Electoral Service to resist efforts to weaken the institute's autonomy. They highlighted past challenges like pressures and institutional changes.
Counselors Jaime Rivera, Dania Ravel, and Claudia Zavala ended their terms on the National Electoral Institute's (INE) General Council during their last in-person session before April 4, when their appointments conclude.
Rivera stated that during his tenure, the INE faced "difficult circumstances, such as the siege on its autonomy and persecution against him and the two outgoing counselors, stemming from their vote to suspend the revocation of mandate".
Zavala, with nine years as a counselor, participated in organizing two presidential elections and novel processes like the revocation of mandate, popular consultation, and judicial election. She noted these were marked by "pressures against the INE, in a generic manner as if the institute were solely the counselors with whom those in power had differences, and not that large team of more than 17,000 colleagues".
Ravel said she leaves "a very different institution from the one she joined in 2017, as it is evident we have experienced important changes in the composition and powers of the General Council, as well as in the collegial work dynamic and even in building consensus".
All three urged the remaining counselors and Professional Electoral Service staff to defend the INE's autonomy against attempts to weaken it.
