Cruz García provisionally presides over the National Electoral Institute until a new appointment

The General Council of the National Electoral Institute provisionally appointed Blanca Yassahara Cruz García as Counselor President, while the Chamber of Deputies of the Congress of the Union designates the person who will occupy the Presidency for the remaining period. The determination is contained in Agreement INE/CG656/2026, approved by unanimous vote in an extraordinary session on October 27, 2026, and published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on Thursday, November 12, 2026, in the section for autonomous bodies, pages 55 to 60.

The vacancy opened on October 26, 2026, when Guadalupe Taddei Zavala submitted her resignation from the position of Counselor President to the Chamber of Deputies and sent a copy of the letter to the General Council for the relevant legal purposes. The agreement itself recognizes that, as of the date of its issuance, the legislative body had not yet designated who would occupy the Presidency for the remaining period, and that the decision was adopted so as not to leave the leadership of the institute headless at the very start of the 2026-2027 Federal Electoral Process, which formally began on September 10, 2026.

The legal framework of the substitution

The basis is Article 41, Base V, Section A of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, which provides that in the event of the absolute absence of the Counselor President or any of the counselors during the first six years of the term, a substitute person is elected to complete the period of the vacancy. Article 44, numeral 1, subsection cc) of the General Law of Electoral Institutions and Procedures empowers the General Council to appoint from among the counselors whoever shall provisionally substitute for the Presidency in case of definitive absence and to inform the Chamber.

The agreement also invokes Articles 13, numeral 1, subsections g) and h) of the Internal Regulations of the National Electoral Institute and Article 15, numeral 5 of the Session Regulations of the General Council, and argues that the ten acting counselors meet the constitutional and legal requirements, as the regulations do not provide for additional requirements to assume the Presidency provisionally.

Unanimous vote and scope of the appointment

The designation was approved with the vote of the ten electoral counselors present:

• Arturo Castillo Loza
• Arturo Manuel Chávez López
• Blanca Yassahara Cruz García
• Norma Irene De La Cruz Magaña
• Uuc-kib Espadas Ancona
• José Martín Fernando Faz Mora
• Frida Denisse Gómez Puga
• Carla Astrid Humphrey Jordan
• Rita Bell López Vences
• Jorge Montaño Ventura

The Agreement entered into force on the day of its approval, October 27, 2026, and orders the Acting Head of the Executive Secretariat to inform the Chamber of Deputies for legal purposes, in addition to carrying out the procedures for its publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation. The document bears the signature of Blanca Yassahara Cruz García herself and the Acting Head of the Secretariat of the General Council, Roberto Carlos Félix López.

With the appointment, Cruz García assumes the powers that Article 45 of the electoral law assigns to the Presidency: guaranteeing the unity and cohesion of the Institute’s bodies, convening and conducting the sessions of the General Council, monitoring compliance with its agreements, proposing the draft budget, and appointing the heads of the executive directorates and technical units.

From electoral counselor to provisional president

Cruz García joined the General Council a few months ago: on April 21, 2026, the Chamber of Deputies appointed her as an electoral counselor for a nine-year term, from April 22, 2026, to April 21, 2035, along with Frida Denisse Gómez Puga and Arturo Manuel Chávez López. The decree was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on April 22, 2026, and they took the oath of office that same day in an urgent extraordinary session.

The handover occurs just over a month before the start of the federal electoral process that will culminate in the 2027 elections; therefore, the provisional Presidency will be in charge of the immediate conduct of organizational work, the integration of commissions, and the relationship with local public bodies, parties, and federal authorities, until the Legislative Power completes the constitutional appointment.

The appointment provides certainty to the leadership of the electoral referee while the vacancy is resolved, but leaves the fundamental definition open: the definitive Presidency of the National Electoral Institute remains in the hands of the Chamber of Deputies, which must choose the person to complete the term as soon as possible.

Source: Official Gazette of the Federation, November 12, 2026, Autonomous Bodies, pp. 55-60 (official reference: INE/CG656/2026).