INE establishes integrity verification for candidacies as a permanent commission

The General Council of the National Electoral Institute (INE) approved the integration of the Candidacy Integrity Verification Commission as a permanent commission, in compliance with the Second Transitory Article of the Decree reforming the General Law of Electoral Institutions and Procedures (LGIPE) regarding candidacy integrity. The decision was formalized in Agreement INE/CG482/2026, published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on Thursday, August 27, 2026, pages 96 to 106.

The agreement was approved in an extraordinary session of the General Council held on July 30, 2026, by nine votes in favor and two against in general, and by eight votes in favor and three against in particular. The Council President, Guadalupe Taddei Zavala, and the Secretary of the Council, Claudia Arlett Espino, signed the document.

A mandate of the electoral reform

On June 2, 2026, the Decree reforming and adding various provisions to the LGIPE regarding candidacy integrity was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation. The reform modified Article 42, numeral 2, to incorporate the new commission into the catalog of permanent commissions, and added Title Second Bis to Book Four, consisting of Articles 200 Bis, 200 Ter, and 200 Quater.

The Second Transitory Article of the Decree establishes that the commission must be integrated, installed, and operational before the start of the 2026-2027 Electoral Process. Article 200 Quater provides that the body will be composed of three electoral councilors, with a three-year term and an annual rotating presidency.

Integration and technical secretariat

The commission will be composed exclusively of electoral councilors, without the participation of councilors from the Legislative Power or representatives of political parties, given the reserved and confidential nature of the information it will handle. The initial integration was formed as follows:

• Arturo Manuel Chávez López — Presidency
• Norma Irene De La Cruz Magaña — Member
• Uuc-kib Espadas Ancona — Member

The Technical Secretariat will be managed by the Executive Secretariat, through the head of the Executive Directorate of Legal Affairs, who will carry out the material functions under their coordination.

Exceptional regime and confidentiality

The General Council recognized that the incorporation of the new permanent commission, without modifying the participation limit of up to four commissions provided for in Article 42, numeral 2 of the LGIPE, constitutes an exceptional situation. Therefore, it approved an initial composition that allows the designated councilors to integrate the body even if they already participate in the maximum number of commissions, without this modifying the ordinary regime.

Article 200 Ter, subsection a), of the LGIPE entrusts the commission with guaranteeing the confidentiality of the information it receives. Pursuant to the Fifth Transitory Article of the Decree, the INE, in coordination with security, intelligence, law enforcement, and financial system agencies, will issue the guidelines regulating its internal operation, the deadlines and procedures for the receipt and analysis of information, and the mechanisms for the protection of personal data.

Relevance for electoral processes

With this decision, the INE timely complies with the legal mandate to install a specialized body for the verification of the eligibility and integrity requirements of candidates before the start of the electoral process. The new permanent commission reinforces transparency and trust in future processes by subjecting candidacies to a verification procedure with high standards of confidentiality and data protection.

Source: Official Gazette of the Federation, August 27, 2026, Autonomous Bodies, pp. 96-106 (official reference: Agreement INE/CG482/2026).