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Mexico’s Top Electoral Court Throws Out Bolaños Consultation, Orders a Redo

The rerun faces a tight May 31 legal cutoff that could decide whether the change applies before the 2027 local elections.

Overview

  • The TEPJF’s Superior Chamber, which voted 4–2 on Wednesday, annulled the Jalisco electoral institute’s consultation on changing Bolaños’s municipal voting system and ordered the process repeated.
  • Magistrates said the institute failed to prove a free and certain vote, pointing to missing video records and signs of possible coercion in the El Vallecito community assembly.
  • Wixárika communities from Tuxpan de Bolaños and San Sebastián Teponahuaxtlán accepted the ruling and urged a new consultation within a month under recognized indigenous-rights standards.
  • A Green Party lawmaker in Jalisco backed the decision and called for full inclusion of mestizo residents in any rerun after months of local friction that included protests and roadblocks.
  • The proposed shift would replace party-based elections with usos y costumbres, an indigenous customary system, and it can only take effect if a new vote and state decree are completed before May 31.