Electoral Court overturns IFE on political ads

The Federal Electoral Tribunal unanimously overturned the Ps. 19 million fine that the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) imposed on the Green Party for running ads during March and April. The IFE had ruled 5-4 that the Green’s ads violated the recently passed electoral law reforms that prohibited the parties from buying political ads directly. The Trife accepted the Greens argument that the ads were not electoral in nature, but were merely informational about the legislative work of the party’s deputies. El Universal editorialized, “With this resolution, the seven magistrates backed the perfect pretext for all the parties to buy propaganda when it suited them. [The ruling] will leave useless the electoral reform whose purpose was, precisely, to prevent elections being decided by the money used to buy ads or the favor of the TV broadcasters.” (Reforma 5/9, Universal 5/11)