The General Council of the National Electoral Institute (INE) approved an agreement on November 5, 2026, that establishes a whistleblower mailbox and requests that the Superior Audit Office of the Federation (ASF) audit the institute's acquisitions between 2016 and 2026. The measure seeks to reinforce internal controls over purchases and leases ahead of the 2026-2027 federal electoral process.
The agreement, which the institute framed as a way to restore integrity and strengthen administrative management controls, was voted on in a session that reached item 13 on the agenda more than six hours after it began, according to Proceso. The discussion took place after Guadalupe Taddei Zavala left the presidency of the organization. The INE organizes the country's federal elections: the way it contracts materials, trainers and logistics services affects the operation of every polling station and the timing of electoral organization. The requested review covers the institute's central, delegational and subdelegational offices.
The review period requested from the ASF runs from November 3, 2016, to November 3, 2026, according to the project described by Expansión Política. The audit contemplates reviewing contracting files, calls for bids and awards; detecting concentration of awards among few suppliers, conflicts of interest and links between contracting companies; verifying the actual delivery of goods and services, and reviewing tax receipts, bank reconciliations and possible duplicate payments. The agreement also asks the Financial Intelligence Unit to report possible irregularities linked to suppliers and to verify contractors' tax compliance with the SAT. Excélsior reported that the package includes a review of the supplier registry, the immediate safeguarding of physical and digital files from the last ten years and a detailed inventory of acquisitions. Proceso reported that the anonymous whistleblower mailbox was proposed by councilor Carla Humphrey.
The ASF will define the scope, sample and audit methods for the contracts. The INE, meanwhile, must assemble its procurement plan and ten-year document safeguarding for the 2026-2027 federal electoral process, a task that will be measured against next year's bidding calendar.
This article was written with the assistance of artificial intelligence from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.
