The organization of an electoral process in Mexico is currently based on administrative, legal and procedural models applicable to the public function. This means that it regards the development, within a defined period and geographical area, of planned, coordinated, controlled, and executed activities based on rules and norms clearly established and known by the participants during the renewal of certain offices of popular election.

Even though, the institutions entrusted with the organization of the elections are fundamentally instances of executive character. These instances, even though they comply with the entrustment of performing a state or public function, they keep a political and technical-administrative autonomy regarding the executive power, whether if it is federal or local (see Arising of the autonomous federal organs in Mexico and the creation of the IFE)

Although the electoral process implies elements of political and administrative nature, it is important to point out that its characterization is given based on a specific legal frame. The foregoing insofar the preparation, development and the results of the process give preference to premises and imply specific legal effects. It is clear, that the neatness in the development of each one of the acts of the process, besides expressing legality, keep a bond with the legitimacy of the charges subject to election, which commonly takes it to the political ground.

In this context, in the electoral law is where the following is established:

• When must an electoral process begin

• Which are the offices to elect

• Who has the right to participate as voter and as candidates, and which are the procedures for their registry

• How must the objections of the results be solved and who has the authority to decide if these can be ratified or revoked, and

• In consequence, when the conditions to determine that the acts that bring to the conclusion of the process have been exhausted are met.

Synthesizing, it is possible to sustain that the procedures that must be followed during the development of an electoral process constitute a key piece for the existence of a participative democracy. To these respect, it must be remembered that in the organization of the electoral processes converge authorities but, maybe like in no other moments of the democratic life of a society, the citizens.

The nature of the Electoral process in Mexico City

As it has established, the electoral process is sustained in the existence of rules, this means, on a legal system that at the same time is part of a defined electoral system. In the case of Mexico City, this condition was created in 1999 as a result of the electoral reform of 1996 and the political electoral reform of 1998, in the agendas of which the importance of the electoral component corresponding to the Federal District was recognized.

So, from the year 1999, the Electoral Institute of the Federal District has organized the local elections of 2000, 2003 2006. and 2009. Currently, the Electoral Code of the Federal District establishes in its article 217 that:

 “The ordinary electoral process begins during the month of October of the year prior to the election and it concludes once the Electoral Court of the Federal District has resolved the last of the objections that were filed or when there is evidence that there are no objections filed.

For the purposes of this code, the ordinary Electoral process comprises the following stages:

I. Preparing the election, it begins with the first session that the General Council of the Electoral Institute of the Federal District holds during the first week of the month of October of the year prior to the year in which the ordinary elections must be held and it concludes when the day of the elections begin;

II. Day of the elections, that begins at 7:30 o’clock of the first Sunday of July and concludes with the delivery of the electoral packages to the District Council;

III: Counting of votes and results of the elections, that begin with the reception of the electoral packages from the polling stations in the District Councils and ends with the counting of votes of the corresponding elections.

IV. Declaration of validity, that starts when the counting of votes for each election ends and concludes with the delivery of the records of majority and the declaration of validity of the elections of deputies of the Legislative Assembly and heads of the boroughs made by the organizations of the Electoral Institute of the Federal District, or in its case, with the resolutions issued by the Electoral Court of the Federal District.

It is important to mention that the same Code foresees that in case of the election of Head of Government of the Federal District, the stage of validity and, therefore, the Electoral process can be considered as concluded once the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District (ALDF) issues a decree by means of which it the declaration of elected Head of Government that the Electoral Court of the Federal District would have made is made public.

As it can be observed in the body of such code, in the Federal District there are two scenarios for the organization of the elections: the ordinary process and the extraordinary. Both are executed by mandate of the Political Constitution of the Mexican United States, and therefore differently from the proceedings of citizenship participation (see Modalities of the citizen participation in Mexico City) the adjective of constitutional is added.

The extraordinary Electoral process takes place when an election is declared void or there is a tie in the result.

In accordance with the provisions of article 218 of the CEDF, a temporary call to an extraordinary election for any office of popular election shall be made by the General Council of the IEDF within a period of thirty days following the conclusion of the last stage of the ordinary process.

It is to mention that the extraordinary Electoral process constitutes, in case it takes place, a consequence of the happenings of the ordinary. And therefore it is understood that several acts verified during the ordinary process will be taken into account for the extraordinary, for instance that no political party that has lost its registry could participate, even if they participate with a candidate during the ordinary election that was declared null. (see article 219 of the CEDF).

The organization of an electoral process is a cyclical task.

In the Federal District every three years constitutional elections are organized to renew the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District and the heads of the boroughs head that are the heads of the administration of the territorial localities, commonly called Boroughs. The same way, every six years the next head of the local Executive Power is elected: the Head of Government of the Federal District.

One more of the characteristics of the electoral process of Mexico City is that they have been conceived as concurrent events to the celebration of the federal elections in which the President of the Republic, the Senators and the deputies that form the Federal Congress. In this sense, several tasks framed within the local process (installing the polling stations, printing the Voter Lists, etc.) are performed in coordination with the Federal Electoral Institute. 

The stages of the organization of the local Electoral process

As it has been said, the organization of the local Electoral process in this federative entity is conceived under the logic of the following four stages: 1) Preparing the election, 2) Elections, 3) Counting of votes and results of the elections, and 4) Statements of Validity.

Before describing the stages of the organization of the electoral process, it is important to emphasize that the leading of this event in Mexico City implies going through specific administrative and legal routes, specific to each type of election.

Proof of the foregoing is that, for example, there is a registry of candidates with differentiated dates and instances; the vote counting system and counting of votes is performed in different levels; and the Statements of Validity are performed by collegiate organs of different levels of responsibility. The extraordinary procedures that are focused on the replacement of certain kinds of acts and scopes of election, also constitutes a reflection of it.

Preparing the election

This stage begins during the first week of the month of October with the session the General Council of the IEDF and concludes when the elections begin.

In this stage the political parties can perform a process of internal selection of candidates for offices of popular election and once selected, such candidates must be registered, depending on the election, before the General Council of the IEDF, the District Councils or the District Councils which work as the main collegiate body in the Borough. For the registry, the political party or petitioner coalition must cover, among other requirements, the presentation of an application within the time frame established by the law. 

The times for the registry reflect, of course, logic linked to the duration of the campaigns. The priority, in this matter, is held by the candidates to govern all the entity, who must organize more acts of electioneer, in the measure that their scope of election comprehends a bigger geographical area.

In this context, the proposals of the candidates for Head of Government will have their registry applications received from April 2nd to the 8th of the year of the election. On the other hand, the candidates for deputies by the principle of plurality system and those that will contend for the headquarters borough will have it from April 10th to the 20th. At last, the lists of the candidates that pretend to occupy a Representation by the principle of proportional representation, will present their applications for registry from April 25th to the 30th.

Once registered, all the contenders to the offices of popular election in dispute, the electoral campaigns begins. In this regard, the Electoral Code for the Federal District governs, among others, the duration of the campaigns, the characteristics of the propaganda to be used and the allowed places for its posting, the rules and conditions for their publicity through the communication mass media and the limits for campaign expenses. Also, this law establishes the sanctions, economic as well as administrative, for the one who violates or fails to comply with the previously mentioned provisions.

Another aspect to consider during the stage of preparation of the elections, is the corresponding procedure for the location of the polling stations in which the citizens will issue their vote and the characteristics of the places where they will be installed. 

First, it is taken into consideration that a polling station can have as a maximum 750 electors of the Voter list of an electoral section. If in such list there are more citizens registered, as many polling stations as necessary should be installed next to each other, reason for which the Voter List will be divided according to the exceeding amounts and in the alphabetical order in which the citizens appear in it. 

It is important to point out that for the citizens in transit, this means, those that are outside the electoral section to which they correspond, special polling stations are installed, there being a maximum of three for each electoral district considering its geographical characteristics and the population density.

According to the provisions of article 273 of the CEDF, for the purposes of a place to be considered “optimum” for the installation of a polling station it must have the following characteristics:

• Be of easy and free access;

• Encourage the easy installation of modular elements or folding screens that allow securing the confidentiality of the vote;

• Shall not be houses inhabited by the militants of political parties or by their relatives up to those in second degree (this means, besides parents, siblings and children, the grandparents, uncles, cousins and nephews and nieces) public servants of trust or by the candidates registered in the corresponding election;

• Not to be property of Political Associations, or factories or temples used for some kind of cult; and

• Not to be facilities dedicated to activities of vice, such as bars or similar facilities.

Of the sites that fulfill such requirements, the legislation sets forth that the preference should be for schools, public offices, or places that facilitate the free access for the elderly and handicapped.

The procedure to determine the location of the polling stations is the following:

• In order to identify the places that can be used, between February 15th and March 15th of the year in which the election will be held, the members of the District Councils must make a visit of the area that comprehends the corresponding sections. Derived from that visit, a list with the different location options for each one of the polling stations is made;

• As the next step, the District Councils holds a session during the last week of the month of March in which it examines and approves, among the proposed locations, those that better fulfill the requirements; and

• In third place the Executive Secretary of the General Council of the IEDF orders the publication of the lists of the selected polling stations at the latest on June 15th while the chairmen of the District Councils do the same in public places within the territory comprehended by its district. The last week of June the list is published a second time with modifications in case there are any.

Another important issue is that which corresponds to the designation of the members of the directive boards of the polling stations (MDC). In the month of February the General Council of the Electoral Institute of the Federal District shall establish the mechanism to select, randomly the citizens that will constitute the directive boards. The selection will be held between March 1st and the 20th. Once they have been selected, the citizens are trained through a course given by the IEDF from March 21st to April 30th.

An additional factor, that is fundamental to the transparency of the acts of the Electoral process and that is performed at this stage, is the registering of the representative of the political parties and of the electoral observers, who might be present at the polling stations during the election’s day.

One of the virtues of the electoral process is the involvement of the political parties in all the phases of its development and the integration of the Directive Boards of the Polling Stations is not an exception. The representatives carry out the task of protecting the interests of their party, and therefore the law grants them the right of presenting written documents about the incidents that come up during the election, as well as requesting to take note of those incidents on the corresponding minutes. Two proprietors and one substitute can be accredited for each polling station. Additionally before each district two general representatives are accredited for every ten polling stations. Its party must accredit them before the corresponding District Council during the month of June and until 7 days before the election’s day.

The electoral observers, as the name indicates, are only accredited to observe the development of the Electoral process and can, if they chose so, request information about the organization but shall not interfere with the development of the elections. In the Federal District, the labor of electoral observing is reserved to the Mexican citizens, who shall have full legal capacity regarding their civil and political rights, and must not be public federal or local servants, not belong, or having belong to any political party in the three years prior to the election, as well as not being or having been candidate to the offices of public election. Also, they must attend the training courses given by the IEDF.

It is important to point out that the electoral observation can comprehend all the stages of the process and that, as set forth by article 279 of the CEDF, the applications of registry are always presented in an individual manner. And therefore, each electoral observer will be able to be registered with the offices of the District Council that corresponds to his address, or well before the General Council of the IEDF when it regards citizen organizations, from the beginning of the electoral process and up to May 31st, this means, approximately a month before the day of the elections.

In case that an observer is only interested in participating during the day of the elections, its registry application might be received between the 1st and 15th of June.

On the other hand, it is important to highlight that in the electoral process of 2009, electronic ballot boxes were used, in accordance with the article 213 of the CEDF, which sets forth that electronic systems of voting can be utilized. In order to fulfill the ruling, the General Council approved the necessary provisions, among which stood out: using electronic ballot boxes for the receipt and counting of votes, determining the electoral sections in which electronic voting machines were used in July 5, of that year; the design and model of the screen for electronic ballot boxes, as well as designs and models of two virtual ballots, among others.

It was the first time that these electronic systems were used to vote with binding character. An electronic ballot box was used in each of the forty District Councils.

Summarizing, this first stage of the organization of the electoral process is the most extended one and its importance lies on the fact that all the elements that it involves must always be ready before the day of the elections.

The elections

After various months dedicated to the preparation of the elections, the day of the elections begins with the installment of polling stations between 7:30 and 8:00 o’clock of the first Sunday of July of the year in which the elections must be carried out, and it ends with the delivery of electoral packages to the District Councils. Notwithstanding that this stage only lasts one day, it includes important aspects that it is appropriate to comment.

The first thing is the installment and opening of polling stations. For it, it is necessary that at 7:30 o’clock the officers of the directive board are present and before the representatives of the political parties that are present they proceed to the installment and, likewise, to the opening of the polling station. It is to be pointed out, that to prevent any suspicion over the transparency of the operation of the polling stations the voting will not start under any circumstance before 8:00 o’clock.

A polling station can be installed in a different place when: there is no place indicated at the corresponding publications; the place is closed or under closing by a competent authority; it is a forbidden place by the CEDF; the place does not secure the freedom, secrecy of vote, the easy and free access of the voters or does not secure the normal performance of the elections. If that is the case, the officers and representatives that are present will take the resolution by common agreement. It is important to mention that the polling station must be installed in the same section and the notice of the new place is to be left in the exterior of the original location, leaving evidence of that situation in the corresponding minutes.

If one of the members of the directive board of polling station that were appointed fails to show, the officers that follows in rank will take his place and, likewise, the other officers will move from their places until covering all the positions; in case of not having enough officers to open the polling station, the chairman of the directive board can even appoint the missing officers among the voters that are in line to exercise their right to vote.

Once the polling station is installed the minutes of the elections is prepared, which the members of the directive board of polling station and the representatives of the political parties must execute; next, the ballots will be signed by one of the representatives of the political parties and the chairman of the MDC announces the beginning of the voting.

In addition to the foregoing, to avoid disorder during the voting, the electors issue their votes in the order that they arrive to the polling station. Notwithstanding, it must be pointed out that, if they require so, the elderly and those handicapped persons have preference. The elector can only vote if it shows the voting card with photography and is registered at the Voter List of that polling station; once the foregoing is confirmed he is given the ballots, and the elector marks them and deposits them in the corresponding urns.

The voting is closed at 18:00 0’clock, allowing only the electors who are in line at that time to vote. The polling station might only be closed earlier if the chairman and the secretary of the directive board certify that all the voters registered at the corresponding Voter List have voted. Next, the secretary will proceed to write the exact time of the closing of the voting in the minutes of elections, and if the case might be, he will specify the reason for the early closing. Such minutes is signed by the officers of the directive board of the polling station and the representatives of the political parties.

Once the voting is concluded, the officers of the polling station carry out the vote counting system of the votes, in order to determine the number of voters, the votes received by political party, coalition or candidate, the null votes and the remaining ballots. In order to evidence that the urns are empty, the chairman of the MDC must extract the ballots and the person in charge of the vote counting system must count them out loud, under the surveillance of the other officers and representatives of the political parties.

Once the votes are counted, the secretary will prepare the minutes of vote counting system and counting of votes of each election, which must be signed by all the officers and representatives accredited in the polling station and a readable copy must be submitted to the representatives of the parties. Additionally, a polling station file per each kind of election is integrated.

In addition to the foregoing, and to conclude the elections, the chairman of the directive board publishes the results of each one of the elections in a visible place outside the polling station, and in the company of the officers or representatives that so desire, goes to deliver the electoral package of the polling station to the District Council that corresponds.

Counting of votes and results of the elections

In this stage, that starts when the District Councils receive the electoral packages providing from the polling stations that were installed in their respective territories, under normal circumstances it goes between the day of the elections and the dates in which the counting of votes of the corresponding elections is carried out.  Given the importance of the electoral packages as basis of the development of this stage, the District Councils issue for the officers a receipt in which the hour of delivery is specified, and also, a descriptive minutes of the conditions in which the packages were received is prepared.

In this sense, the District Councils proceed to the counting of votes of the district in accordance to the provisions of the CEDF contained on its articles 308 to 315.

Once the counting of votes of all the elections is concluded, the chairman of the District Council:

1. Submits to the District Councils which work as the main collegiate body in the Borough the results of the counting of votes of the election of Head of Borough, with the purpose of such instance carrying out the Borough counting of votes,as well as the corresponding file;

2. Submits to General Council of the IEDF the file and results of the counting of district votes of the elections of Head of Government and deputies by the principle of proportional representation, as well as the certified copy of the file of the elections of deputies by the principle of plurality system; the foregoing in order for the maximum organization of the IEDF to carry out the Total Counting of Votes per Entity of each election; and

3. At last, it stamps a poster at the exterior of the seat of the District Council with the final results of each one of the elections carried out in such district.

With this activity the third stage of the organization of the electoral process concludes and the fourth phase begins: the statements of validity.

Statements of validity

The last phase of the Electoral process is initiated at the conclusion of the counting of votes of each election and it concludes with the delivery of the records of majority and the statements of validity of the elections for deputies of the Legislative Assembly and the heads of the boroughs issued by the organizations of the IEDF, or if the case might be, with the resolutions of the Electoral Court for the Federal District (TEDF) in case of any objection to the results. As regards the election of Head of Government, this stage will conclude with the decree issued by the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District, to make of the knowledge of the inhabitants of the Federal District, the declaration of elected Head of Government that the TEDF carries out.

It must be pointed out that at the capital of the country there is an Electoral Procedural Law for the Federal District (LPEDF) that governs the System of Objection Means and that grants the contesting political parties or coalitions the right to object the electoral results and request their revision.

In addition to the foregoing, it is to be pointed out that once the case reaches the jurisdictional instances in charge of sentencing the electoral actions, the procedure can extend for a longer time in some geographical areas, meanwhile in those whose results have been assumed by all the contenders this result is final, or as it is called, res judicata. Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is precise to emphasize that the ordinary Electoral process concludes until the Electoral Court of the Federal District has solved the last one of the objections in case that they are filed or there is evidence that no objection was filed.

By virtue of the fact that an ordinary Electoral process cannot be unfinished for an uncertain time, it is convenient to point out that the resolutions derived from the electoral actions also have specific times. In this sense, article 84 of the Electoral Procedural Law for the Federal District sets forth that:

“The electoral actions by means of which the total counting of votes or records of majority or designation are objected, they should be solved no longer than 30 days following the investiture of deputies, Head of Boroughs or Head of Government.”

However, insofar the one who files an electoral action can appear before a second instance, if he considers himself affected by the resolutions of the Electoral Court of the Federal District, the process can be prolonged for an additional time.