Fox asks not to vote in referendum against trial of former presidents

Through his Twitter account, former president Vicente Fox Quesada asked his followers not to go out to vote on 1 August to decide whether former presidents should be put on trial, as the National Electoral Institute (INE) has called for.

«Friends, friends. Let’s not lend ourselves to this farce. Let’s give them a total vacuum. Nobody to vote on 1 August. We’ll play them (sic) for throwing our money away,» Fox Quesada tweeted.

According to the INE, the popular consultation against the former presidents will take place on Sunday 1 August 2021. It is worth mentioning that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, electoral authorities determined that voting credentials that expired in 2019 and 2020 will be valid to participate in the consultation.

The former presidents who would be subject to a trial, if required by voters, are: Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León, Vicente Fox Quesada, Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa and Enrique Peña Nieto.

This is the first time that INE will organise a referendum.

How will the referendum be carried out?

The popular consultation regarding the trial against the former presidents will consist of one question: «Do you agree or disagree that the relevant actions be carried out, in accordance with the constitutional and legal framework, to undertake a process of clarification of the political decisions taken in the past years by the political actors in order to guarantee justice and the rights of possible victims?

On 2 June, INE announced that it had approved the ballot and Braille template for the popular consultation to be held on 1 August.