Politics: INE crisis puts the legitimacy of the 2027 elections at risk

MEXICO - Report 02 Nov 2026 by Guillermo Valdés and Francisco González

The resignation of INE President Guadalupe Taddei on October 26, after a week of revelations about corruption and influence peddling, has opened a deep crisis of credibility in Mexico’s electoral authority just as the 2027 election cycle begins. Investigations point to a network of supplier companies controlled by the Hernández Casillas brothers, which won more than 1 billion pesos in contracts with local electoral bodies in at least 13 states and roughly 260 million more from the INE itself. What makes the case unprecedented is the overlap between contractor and institution: people who had represented or worked with those companies were appointed by Taddei to the INE’s procurement, administration and IT areas, while videos and recordings confirmed a personal relationship between her and the businessman.

Two institutional shifts made the scandal possible. The appointment of councilors by random draw in 2023 and a Morena-controlled renewal of the Council in 2026 ended the consensus that once governed the choice of electoral referees. Then the October 2024 amendment to Article 45 of the electoral law let the presidency appoint top officials without the General Council’s approval, eliminating collegiality and internal checks, and the Supreme Court declined to address the matter.

The government frames the case as an administrative matter of individual misconduct, while analysts and the opposition read it as a way to show that a model of political control without counterweights is underway. Sheinbaum now faces a dilemma between restoring the INE’s legitimacy or keeping control over it. The call for applications on November 4, the makeup of the technical committee, and Morena’s willingness to negotiate a consensus successor will determine whether the outcome is a negotiated succession or a ruling-bloc imposition with some minor adjustments. At stake is not only the INE’s credibility but the legitimacy of next year’s elections.

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