MEXICO CITY, Oct 26 (Reuters) – The head of Mexico’s National Electoral Institute will resign amid allegations of corruption, a decision President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that she supports.
INE chief Guadalupe Taddei’s resignation is the most high-profile departure tied to alleged corruption in Sheinbaum’s two-year-old presidency.
The move raises fresh questions over the credibility and leadership of the autonomous electoral authority as it prepares for the 2027 midterms and after lawmakers rejected Sheinbaum’s broader attempt to reform Mexico’s electoral system earlier this year. Lawmakers later supported a narrower package of electoral changes.
“There couldn’t be this shadow of a conflict of interest. It’s good that she made the decision to step aside,” Sheinbaum said at her daily press conference, while rejecting the notion that the resignation pointed to a political crisis.
Mexico’s Superior Audit Office is investigating alleged irregularities involving INE contracts, including possible conflicts of interest and the triangulation of public funds. Taddei, in local news outlets, has been accused of favoring an INE contractor, with whom she has a personal relationship, with contracts worth millions of dollars.
“Over the past few days, rumors, fabricated material, leaks, and versions of events have spread through the media and social networks, and as in all such cases, their authenticity, context, and purpose must be verified and corroborated,” Taddei said in a Sunday statement announcing her planned resignation.
Taddei said her resignation aimed to protect the INE and allow it to fulfill its constitutional mission.
The 2027 elections are expected to be hotly contested, and the INE’s credibility is essential to avoid conflict, said Antonio Ocaranza, a consultant who was a spokesman for former President Ernesto Zedillo. He called Taddei’s exit “a necessary and timely correction.”
Ocaranza said the case also poses a broader test for Sheinbaum, as there are already many cases of political families close to her political party, Morena, accused by local news outlets, and “the government has shown little desire to investigate and punish them.”
Authorities are also investigating potential fraud linked to several contracts signed by other INE officials in which there may have been conflicts of interest.
Opposition party PRI’s President Alejandro Moreno said Taddei’s resignation should not be used to “impose another person close to Morena.”
“Mexico cannot go into the 2027 elections with an electoral authority whose impartiality is in serious question,” he added.
(Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez, Raul Cortes and Diego Ore; Editing by Anthony Esposito and Bill Berkrot)
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