MEXICO / USA – The Mission of Foreign Visitors (MVE) of the Organization of American States (OAS) that will observe the process of revocation of the presidential mandate in Mexico that will take place next Sunday, April 10, begins its deployment today.
The Mission is headed by Fernando Tuesta Soldevilla, a Peruvian professor and electoral expert. Among other academic titles, he has a doctorate in Social Sciences from the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos. Currently, he is a senior professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP). Between 2000 and 2004, he was Head of the National Office of Electoral Processes of Peru (ONPE), a period in which he was in charge of organizing two recall processes of subnational authorities.
Tuesta has four decades of electoral experience. He has assumed roles as advisor and leader of commissions for political-electoral reforms in his country. Additionally, he has participated in numerous Electoral Observation Missions and Electoral Technical Missions in eleven countries in the region. He is the author of numerous books and publications on issues of elections, revocation of mandate, political parties and public opinion.
The Mission, which will arrive in stages in the country, is made up of 14 specialists of 8 nationalities who will analyze issues such as electoral organization and technology, the electoral justice system, access to information and freedom of expression, as well as specific elements of a mechanism of direct democracy. As the OAS has done since the start of the pandemic, its specialists will work virtually and in person.
The MVE/OAS will meet with authorities, representatives of political parties, civil society and academia, among other actors, to hear their opinions on the revocation process. After voting day, the Mission will present a preliminary report.
This is the sixth Mission that the OAS deploys in Mexico and the 26 in which it observes an exercise of direct democracy in the region. The Mission is possible thanks to the contributions of Brazil, Canada, Korea, the United States and the Dominican Republic.
The figure of the mission of foreign visitors, contemplated in Mexican law, enjoys the same functions, privileges and immunities established in article 24 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter for the OAS Electoral Observation Missions.
