Fundamental stages and activities of the Electoral Process

Framework

The electoral process in Mexico is conceived as an orderly sequence of acts and activities regulated by the Constitution and the electoral legislation that the authorities, political parties, and citizens carry out with the purpose of periodically renewing the seats of the Legislative and Executive Branches of the Union.

With this foundation, the division of the electoral process into stages holds the initial purpose of distinguishing and differentiating the temporal sequences of the diverse acts or activities that compose it, but also and more fundamentally, of guaranteeing the observance of the principle of definition. That is, granting strength and legal certitude to the implementation process and to the conclusion of each one of them, as well as guaranteeing that each activity carried out by the electoral authorities, the political parties and the citizens adjusts to the terms and deadlines established by the law.

Even when most of the activities carried out for each federal electoral process, especially those regarding organization and logistics are essentially the same and are divided into three main stages (preparation, election day and results and certification of validity), due to the presidential political system in Mexico, the law includes a fourth stage related exclusively to activities regarding the presidential election and are subsequent to the initial calculation of the votes cast for this election.

Therefore, when only midterm legislative elections take place, as those to occur on July 5, the electoral process consists of only three stages, to which a fourth one is added in case of ordinary presidential elections that happen every six years. The four stages may be summarized as follows:

Preparation of the election. The preparations begin with the first session of the IFE’s General Council held the first week of October on the year previous to the ordinary federal elections take place, and conclude in the morning of election day.

Election day. It begins at 08:00 a.m. on the first Sunday of July and concludes with the closing of the polling sites that have been installed for the reception and initial calculation of the votes.

Results and certification of validity of the elections. It begins with the remission of documents and electoral files from the polling sites to the district councils and concludes with the calculation and certification of validity that the Institute’s councils grant, or in another case, in the last stance with the resolutions made by the Federal Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Branch. In all cases, and according to the law, this phase should conclude by the last week of August.

Ruling and declaration of validity of the election and the President Elect. It begins when the last resolution over the challenges made against the electoral results is resolved or when there is proof that no challenges have been made, and concludes when the Superior Court of the Federal Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Branch approves the ruling that includes the final calculation of votes and the certifications of validity of the election and the President Elect. In any case and according to the law, this last phase of the electoral process should be finished during the month of September.

It is also important to emphasize that the latest reforms in the Constitution and electoral law establish some differences regarding the time span of some preparation activities for the elections. Such differences distinguish the federal processes including presidential and legislative elections from those in which only the 500 seats of the Lower Chamber are renewed, meaning that the terms for the performance of certain activities may differ from one process to the other.

Lastly, and before referring some of the main activities which comprise the three stages of an midterm federal electoral process as those of next July 5, it must be emphasized that one of the substantial differences between a federal electoral process that includes the presidential election from a midterm one resides that in the second no operative program for Mexicans citizens to vote abroad is included, since that only applies for presidential elections.

Therefore, the following outlines do not include any aspects related to the votes abroad, nor the additional and subsequent phase related to the ruling and declaration of validity of the election and President Elect.

1. Preparatory Phase

As previously mentioned, the preparatory phase of an ordinary federal electoral process begins with an ordinary session of the IFE’s General Council on the first week of October on the year before the elections take place. For the legislative federal elections of next July 5, the formal session of the General Council to initiate the corresponding process was held on October 5, 2008.

Installation of Local and District Councils

The directive bodies of the Federal Electoral Institute at local (thirty-two councils) and district (300 councils) levels are temporary. They are installed and remain in operation only during the electoral process.

According to the law, local councils should initiate their sessions no later than October 31, and district councils no later than December 31 of the year before the ordinary election. Starting with their installation and up to the conclusion of the electoral process, the local and district councils should meet at least once a month.

Finalization of the Period of Refining and Updating the Electoral Registry and the Preparation for the Definitive Voters Lists

Even though the diverse instruments that make up the electoral registry are integrated, revised, refined and updated permanently, and the voters may apply for their registration or rectification and updating of their personal information at all times, the law establishes a series of time restrictions during this stage of the process to enable the timely making up of the definitive lists of voters, against which the voting results are verified.

In this sense, all Mexican citizens who have not been registered, as well as all Mexicans that will turn 18 between January 16 and the election day, may apply for their inclusion in the Electoral Roll for the consequent granting of their photo voting card until January 15. Also, the period to ask for a replacement of the voting card due to loss or because it is in poor condition is due the last day of February, and the one to pick up the new photo voting card expires on March 31 of an election year.

Political parties must make concrete and individual comments and request the corresponding modifications to the preliminary voters lists no later than April 14. From the observations made by the political parties, the IFE should carry out the corresponding modifications to the voters lists and inform the General Council and the National Surveillance Commission no later than May 15. Political parties may challenge such report before the Federal Electoral Tribunal. If the report is not challenged, or if the Electoral Tribunal has settled the challenges, the General Council should convene a session to declare the Electoral Roll and the voters lists as valid and definitive.

Once the declaration of validity and completion has been made, the Federal Electoral Institute should proceed to elaborate and print out final voters lists and proceed to their delivery, at least 30 days prior election day, to the local councils for their distribution to district councils, and through these to the members of the polling site directive boards.

Internal Selection of Candidates, Electoral Pre-campaigns and Accountability on the Matter

One of the main innovations of the recent constitutional and legislative reforms deals with precise dispositions regarding the selection of candidates to posts of popular election that political parties must carry out and the regulation of the processes to such effect: the electoral pre-campaigns.

To this end, the law establishes that even when political parties define, according to their internal rules, the applicable procedure for the selection of their candidates to posts of popular election, they must inform the IFE within the first 72 hours following its approval and explain the method to be used (assemblies or internal elections), the starting date and the periods for each phase of the process, as well as the entities responsible for the carrying out and supervision.

During federal electoral processes in which only the Lower Chamber members are renewed, as that of July 2009, pre-campaigns must start during the fourth week of January of the election year and may not last for more than 40 days. Based on this, the IFE’s General Council is entitled to issue the necessary regulations and agreements for the proper control of the internal processes and pre-campaigns.

In regards to this power and the following legislative elections, the General Council approved, in November 2008, an agreement establishing that the period for the political parties to determine the method to be used in the selection of their candidates would be due on December of that same year; that the date due for the resolution regarding the acceptance of the registry of their pre-candidates by means of the internal statutory entity would be January 30, 2009, and that the following day pre-campaigns would start and could extend until March 11. Finally, it established that the party should define the modality to elect its candidates between March 12 and March 31.

Pre-campaign expenses for each pre-candidate were subject to a limit. In fact, the law authorizes that in November prior to the election, the IFE’s General Council determines the ceilings applicable to each type of election and establishes that the ceilings must be equal to 20 percent the amount established for the preceding campaigns, according to the type of election. In this regards, the IFE’s General Council approved in November 28, 2008, the agreement establishing 214,628 pesos as the ceiling for the campaign of any federal depute pre-candidate.

In regards to the accountability of the pre-campaign expenses origin and destination, all pre-candidates must file a report to the internal entity of their party within the next 7 days after the internal election day or assembly in which the candidates were elected according to the requirements established by the IFE’s General Council. Political parties must also file all pre-campaign income and expenditure informs to the supervising unit of the IFE, within the first 30 days after the conclusion of the internal selection processes for their candidates to popular election posts.

It is important to point out that the law establishes that pre-candidates who fail to inform on the campaign income and expenditures within the established terms and were appointed by his/her party, may not be legally registered as candidates. Besides, those pre-candidates who exceed the ceilings for campaign expenses established by the IFE will be penalized by having their registry cancelled or, if pertinent, by loosing the candidacy obtained.

Deveolpment and Registry of Coalitions

The law establishes new rules for the development of coalitions, that is, for the creation of agreements between two or more political parties, and now also national political groups, to nominate common candidates to popular election posts. Coalitions may be made up for the presidential election or for Upper and Lower Chamber members, but only for those seats elected by the principle of relative majority, that is, in no case they may be extended or affect the election of Upper or Lower Chamber members elected by proportional representation. For these elections, each party must present candidates of its own.

In the only case of members of the Lower Chamber, a coalition may be partial if it comprises 200 of the 300 candidates of proportional representation, if this figure is exceeded, then it automatically becomes a total coalition and must include the 300 candidacies.

A new rule to be applied in the legislative elections of July 2009, is that, regardless the type of election, agreements or terms accepted by the parties of the coalition, each one of them will appear with its own symbol on the voting ballots. The registry application for a coalition agreement must be filed before the IFE’s General Council President no later than 30 days before the campaign period begins for the election in question. Therefore, for the next legislative elections, whose pre-campaigns period began on January 31, 2009, the applications to register coalition agreements should have been filed by December 31, 2008.

For the legislative elections of July 2009, two coalition agreements were registered: on the one hand the parties Labor Party and Convergence constituted the coalition named Salvemos a México (Let´s Save Mexico) and appointed common candidates to the 300 relative majority seats; on the other hand, the Revolutionary Institutional Party and the Green Ecological Party of Mexico made up a coalition called Primero Mexico (Mexico First) and appointed common candidates to 63 majority districts.

Registration of Candidates and Gender Quota

It is the exclusive right of national political parties to apply for the registration of candidates to posts elected by popular election. In the federal electoral process to renew the Lower Chamber, political parties must apply for the registration of their candidates between April 22 and April 29; for the seats elected by the majority principle, before the IFE’s district councils and for those elected by proportional representation, before the local councils. All candidates to the Lower Chamber (and, when pertinent, Upper) must register in formulas that comprise an holder member and a substitute. After the next three days of this deadline, the collegiate bodies of the IFE must hold a session with the sole purpose of registering those candidacies that fulfill the requirements established in the law.

Regarding the so-called gender quota, the law establishes that the total candidacies for Lower Chamber (and Upper) members must be conformed by at least 40 percent of candidates belonging to the same gender, but trying to reach equality, that is 50 percent. This decree does not apply to majority candidacies resulting from a democratic election process according to the internal rules of every party. But, in the case of lists for proportional representation, it is mandatory to integrate them by segments of five candidacies, in every of which there must be at least two candidacies of different gender and alternately to fully comply with the 40 percent rule.

Electoral Campaigns and their Control

The electoral campaigns include the group of activities developed by the national political parties, the coalitions, and the registered candidates with the purpose of promoting their candidacies and win over the citizens’ votes.

Due to the recent constitutional and legislative reforms, the period to carry out electoral campaigns, in the year in which only the Lower Chamber is renewed, has been limited to 60 days. Campaigns begin the day after the competent bodies of the IFE hold the session to register the candidacies and conclude three days before election day.

The law establishes that all campaign activities as well as the electoral advertisement must seek the exposure, development and discussion of the programs and actions stated by the political parties in their proposals and particularly those included in the electoral platform they register for each election. It is important to point out again that in terms of electoral advertisement on radio and television, political parties, pre-candidates, and candidates may only use the time allotted by the Constitution as a prerogative to the political parties. It is prohibited to hire at any time and of course during the pre-campaign and campaign periods, by themselves or through third parties any kind of radio or television transmission time. It is also prohibited that any individual or corporation hires radio or television advertisement with the purpose of influencing the preferences of electors or citizens in favor of or against parties or candidates to popular election posts.

The Constitution establishes that political parties in the disclosure of their political or electoral advertisement must abstain from expressions that denigrate the institutions and the political parties themselves or slander the people. The Constitution commands that during the period of federal and local electoral campaigns and until the end of election day, all sort of government propaganda must be interrupted, except for the information campaigns of the electoral authorities and those related to education and health as well as those aimed at protecting the citizenry in case of an emergency. The Constitution also establishes that the violations to the aforementioned dispositions will be penalized by the IFE immediately and may include an order to cancel instantly the radio and television transmissions that violate the law.

With unlimited observance to the right of writing and publishing all sorts of materials and that no law may contravene the rights granted by the Constitution, the electoral legislation establishes that the advertisement issued by the political parties, coalitions and candidates will be limited only by the respect to the candidate’s private life, authorities, institutions and democratic values.

The expenditures of the political parties, coalitions and their candidates on electoral propaganda and campaign activities are limited by ceilings determined by the General Council for each election based on a series of provisions established by law. The ceilings for campaign expenses in the election by relative majority of members of the Lower Chamber (and, when pertinent Upper Chamber), must be established no later than the last day of January of an election year and results from dividing the maximum amount approved for presidential campaign expenses, into 300 that represents the number of districts in which the national territory is divided for electoral purposes, and especially for the election of Lower Chamber members by relative majority. For the elections of July 2009, the ceiling applicable to campaign expenses is 812,000 pesos.

The law does not comprise ceilings for the elections of members of the Lower (and Upper) Chamber elected by proportional representation since the principle by which they are elected does not enclose campaign activities. Regarding the legislative elections to be held next July, the IFE’s General Council established in one million pesos the limit for campaign expenses of each federal candidate to the Lower Chamber.

Regarding the campaign income and expenditures, all political parties must file no later than June 15, a preliminary report with data to May 30 of the election year. Political parties must file an inform for each one of the campaigns, specifying the expenses made by the party and the candidate, within the following 60 days of election day.

By legal mandate, both on polling day as well as the three previous days, any meeting or public act for the campaign, any electoral advertisement is strictly prohibited. The law forbids the publication or dissemination by any means of the results of any opinion poll or survey with the purpose of informing on the electoral preferences of the citizens for three days previous to the election and until the final hour of the official closure of the polling sites that are located on the westernmost time zone of the national territory. The individuals or corporations who intend to carry out election opinion polls, must follow the scientific general criteria issued by the IFE’s General Council.

Composition and Location of the Polling Site Directive Boards

The polling site directive boards are the electoral bodies which are instated on the day of the election for the reception and preliminary counting of votes. The electoral section constitutes the basic geographic unit used to determine the location of the polling site directive boards. By law, an electoral section should comprehend a minimum of 50 and a maximum of 1,500 voters and should install a poling site for every 750 voters or corresponding fraction.

Each polling site directive board is made up by a president, a secretary, and two scrutineers, as well as by three general substitutes, a total of seven members. All of them must reside in the corresponding electoral section and must be included in the respective voters list. These posts are distributed according to their education level. For the fulfillment of their duties, the members of the directive board receive two training courses designed and implemented by the IFE, which may be supervised by the political parties.

The ruling legislation establishes that the polling sites should be located in places with free and easy access for voters, that allow the installation of booths or modules that guarantee secrecy in the casting of the vote, and that places which may be susceptible to influencing should be avoided. To this end, the preferred locations would be schools and public offices. In any case, it corresponds to the district councils of the IFE to determine the number and location of the polling site that will be installed in the sections included within their area of jurisdiction. According to estimates, for the day of the election of July 5, 2009, there will be about 140,000 polling sites installed throughout the national territory.

In order to let voters know, in a timely and accurate fashion, the make up and location of the polling sites where they must cast their vote, the law mandates that the exact location of the polling sites to be installed in each section, as well as the names of the members of the directive board, shall be published up to two times prior to the election day.

Accreditation of the Political Parties’ Representatives

With the purpose of promoting and ensuring their co-responsibility in what concerns the surveillance of the elections, in such a way that they are carried out with the strictest fulfillment of the principles ordered by law, as well as exercising the rights which they are entitled to, the law establishes that political parties and coalitions may accredit representatives before each one of the polling site directive boards, as well as general representatives in each one of the 300 single-member districts.

To this end, once the candidates are registered, and up to 13 days before the polling day, political parties or coalitions have the right to appoint two regular representatives and a substitute before each polling site directive board. They may also appoint one general representative for every ten polling sites located in urban areas and one for each five rural polling sites installed in each one of the electoral districts.

Accreditation of Electoral Observers and International Visitors

The electoral legislation acknowledges the exclusive right of Mexican citizens to participate as electoral observers in the conditions and terms defined by the General Council of the IFE for every federal election, provided that they count with the timely and corresponding accreditation that must be obtained before May 31 of the election year.

To obtain accreditation, the interested parties must attend the training, preparation, or information courses offered by the IFE or the organizations the electoral observers belong to, under the guidelines and contents dictated by the authorities of the Institute.

The observation tasks may be carried out in any part of the country and the accredited citizens may request the information they require from the local boards of the IFE. The observers may submit the reports on their activities to the electoral authority, according to the conditions set forth by the General Council of the IFE. However, these reports, opinions or conclusions contained in their reports shall never bear any legal effect upon the electoral process and its outcome.

It is worth emphasizing that the electoral observers organizations must submit before the General Council of the IFE, no later than 30 days after the polling day, a report on the origin, amount and destination of the funding obtained for the carrying out of their activities. Since the elections of 1994, the IFE has promoted the creation of a fund to support electoral observation, made up by resources from the federal government and managed by the United Nations to partially finance the observation projects from the national groups fulfilling certain technical requirements, and to support them with specialized technical assistance and guidance.

Also, the law authorizes the IFE’s General Council to define the basis and criteria to receive and provide information to the international visitors who are interested in the election in any of its stages.

Accordingly, the General Council at all pertinent times has approved the corresponding agreement, and has therefore opened the possibility and set the rules for the reception and accreditation of international visitors since the federal elections of 1994. For the following elections, the General Council approved the corresponding agreement on December 22, 2008. The individuals who wish to obtain accreditation as international visitors must apply before June 23, 2009.

2. Polling Day

The polling day is undoubtedly the crucial stage of the electoral process. During this stage, the citizens cast their votes, which will determine the integration of the national representation bodies.

The polling day starts at 8:00 a.m. with the installation and opening of the polling sites, and ends with the closing of the sites, after the scrutiny and tally of the votes received in each one of the sites have been carried out and the respective electoral dossiers have been put together.

Installation and Opening of the Polling Site

At 8:00 a.m., the four regular members of the directive board shall install the polling site before the political party representatives that are present. A polling site may never be installed before 8:00 a.m., and the directive board officials may not leave before it is closed.

If a polling site is not installed according to the ordinary procedure, the electoral law provides a series of sequential alternatives, the last of which authorizes the political party representatives (in the absence of the previously appointed polling site officials or IFE staff) to appoint the necessary officials to integrate a polling site directive board. These officials may only be elected from among the voters of the electoral section who are present at the polling site to cast their vote, since no party representative may be appointed.

Installing the polling site at a different place than the one previously determined by the proper electoral agency constitutes grounds for the annulment of the votes received in it. Therefore, the law specifies the circumstances in which there could be a justified cause for the installment of the polling site at a different place from the one agreed beforehand by the respective district council. If the directive board must change the location of the polling site, the new location must be within the same section and at the nearest available setting. A notification of the change of location must be posted outside the original site.

Voting

The voters vote in the order in which they arrive at the polling site, for which purpose they must show their photo voting cards. Once confirmed that the voter appears on the voters lists, the President hands him/her the ballots, so that he/she may secretly mark the circle or box that corresponds to the political party of his/her choosing.

Once the voter has deposited the ballots in the corresponding ballot box, according to the corresponding election, the board secretary notes down the word “voted” in the corresponding voter list; he punches the voting card and stains the voter’s right thumb with indelible ink. This is the end of the voting procedure for the voter. If a citizen cannot read or is physically unable to mark his/her ballots, someone of his trust may assist him/her.

Usually, voting must end at 18:00 hours. However, the polling site may close before if it is verified that all of the voters included in the corresponding voters list have already voted and it must remain open if at closing time there are still voters standing in line waiting to vote and until all of them have been able to do so.

Scrutiny and Tally

Once the voting has ended, the officers of the directive board proceed to scrutinize and count the votes cast at the polling site. The scrutiny consists of the revision and accurate classification of all of the electoral ballots received originally by each polling site directive board. The tally implies the count of the votes cast.

The law sets forth a set of rules for the directive board officials to strictly and accurately carry out this procedure. Thus, the results must be clearly noted down in the scrutiny and tally acts of each election. The directive board officials are endowed to determine in first instance the validity or annulment of the votes in the place where they are cast and counted.

As a mechanism for disclosing the polling site results as fast as possible, once the dossier of the site has been put together, the President of the directive board must post notifications with the results on a visible place outside of the facilities where the site was installed. These notifications are signed by the party representatives who wish to do so.

Polling Site Closing and Delivering of the Dossier

To close the polling day stage, the directive board officials must close the polling site, noting down the hour at which they do so, as well as the names of the officials and representatives who will deliver the site’s package and dossier before the corresponding district council. This verification documents must be signed by the polling site officials and by the party representatives who wish to do so.

Once the polling sites have been closed, it is their President’s responsibility to send the electoral dossier and packages to the corresponding district councils within the deadlines that the law sets forth and start as of the closing of the polling site:

3. Results and Declaration of Validity for the Election

This stage comprises a wide series of activities that start with the delivery of the electoral package and dossier of each polling site to the corresponding district council, and ends with the total tallying and declaration of validity carried out by the collegiate bodies of the IFE (general, local and district councils), or the final and uncontestable resolutions which the Electoral Tribunal issues in case of challenge, on the validity of elections for Lower (and Upper) Chamber members.

Preliminary Results Information

The general public, the political parties, and the candidates themselves may know the preliminary results by a number of different methods (provided by the electoral authority, and therefore, official) or the trends (provided by other non official means), some of which begin to operate at the closing of the voting and of the polling site, that is, the stage which immediately follows the polling day.

Strictly speaking, the most direct and immediate registration of the results, although its scope is very limited, happens as part of the polling day, since by law the President of the directive board must post a notification right after the scrutiny and tally of the votes with the results of the elections in a visible place outside of the facilities where the polling site was installed.

The prohibition of publishing or broadcasting the results of opinion polls or surveys regarding the electoral preferences is void as of 20:00 central time. Therefore, it is likely and usual that the mass media (especially the electronic ones), begin to publicize the results of poll predictions or surveys regarding the distribution of preferences among the electorate as of that time.

In order for the preliminary results of the elections to be available as soon as possible at a national level, the law authorizes the Executive Secretary of the IFE to establish a mechanism to immediately gather and broadcast this information in the General Council, to which the councilors and the representatives of political parties accredited before the General Council have access. Since 1994, the IFE has implemented and perfected the state of the art Preliminary Results Program (PREP) that allows the direct transmission of results from the 300 district councils to a national gathering center, by means of qualified staff devoted exclusively to this activity.

Besides, the law entitles the President of the General Council to conduct pertinent studies and procedures, in order to know the electoral trends on the polling day, but the results may only be disclosed after 22:00 hours, provided that the Council itself has previously agreed to this. These results may be broadcasted when the maximum collegiate body of the Institute allows it.

It is important to emphasize that, in all cases, results are final only when the Electoral Tribunal has settled the challenges presented or when it can be certified that there were none.

District Counts and Declaration of Validity of Lower Chamber Candidates by Relative Majority

The District Council must add the results registered in the scrutiny and tally acts of the polling sites comprised in the respective electoral district. This addition is called district count. Since the federal Lower Chamber members by relative majority are elected in each single-member district, the district count serves to determine the formula of winning candidates in each of them; therefore it has a final nature.

In the election of Lower Chamber members by proportional representation (Upper Chamber members in their different modalities and the President), the district count is only a midterm stage whose results serve to carry out a total count at a wider territorial level, whatever the case may be.

The regulation sets forth that the district councils shall hold sessions as of 8:00 a.m. of the Wednesday following the polling day to carry out the count calculation for the corresponding election, in case of general elections the count must be made for President, Lower Chamber and Upper Chamber, in that order.

As part of the counting of votes for Lower Chamber members by relative majority, the District Council must verify the compliance with the formal requirements of the election and with the eligibility requirements of the candidates who make up the formula that obtained the majority of the votes. Immediately after this verification, the District Council certifies the winning candidates’ eligibility and issues the declaration of validity of the election. After the counting, and once the declaration of validity has been issued, the President of the District Council shall issue a verification document of majority and validity to whomever won the election for Lower Chamber members by relative majority, except in the case where the members of the formula are ineligible.

If the election count and the validity and majority certificate granted by the District Council to the Lower Chamber members elected by the principle of relative majority are not challenged in the periods and under the conditions set forth by the law, the election is considered valid, final, and incontestable.

At the end of the count session, the District Council President posts the added up results of each election outside of the premises and puts together the files of each election, in order to dispatch the documentation to proper bodies, depending on the case (Electoral Tribunal, the Administrative Office of the Lower Chamber, executive secretary of the IFE and corresponding Local Council).

State Counts

The following Sunday after the polling day, the Local Councils must hold a session to carry out the calculations of the state for the results of the election of Senators and declare the validity of the elections for the principle of relative majority. This stage does not apply to the midterm federal elections of July 5, 2009.

Proportional Representation Counts in each Multi-member District

For midterm elections, the only Local Councils that must hold a session on Sunday after the polling day starting at 8:00 hours are those with residency in the five capital cities designated as district administrative centers (Guadalajara, Monterrey, Jalapa, Toluca and the Federal District) to make the calculation of multi-member districts, that is, the votes in all the districts included within their jurisdiction, with the purpose of determining the results of the winning candidates of the election for seats in the Lower Chamber by proportional representation.

It is the responsibility of the President of the Local Council to set up notices in the exterior of the offices that show the results of the circumscription and to make up the electoral files to be handed in to the Executive Secretary of the IFE.

Verification Documents of Proportional Appointment

On August 23, of election year at the latest, and once the Electoral Tribunal has resolved the challenges filed against Lower Chamber members elections (and Upper Chamber if pertinent), the General Council shall proceed to the appointment of Lower (and Upper) Chamber members elected through the principle of proportional representation according to the basis, criteria, and procedures set forth by the law.

The President of the General Council shall issue the corresponding proportional appointment verification documents and transmit the pertinent information to the Administrative Office of the Lower and Upper Chambers.