Mexico: Men self-determine women to meet gender parity in municipal elections

The Fuerza por México party presented 18 male candidates for different positions in the state of Tlaxcala and they were rejected by local electoral authorities for failing to comply with the legal gender parity required by Mexican laws. But the party was able to solve the problem quickly by registering its candidates who had previously registered as men as self-determined women.

Surprisingly, in an extraordinary session, the General Council of the Tlaxcalteca Elections Institute (ITE) endorsed the party's registration of candidacies since, according to the majority of the members, the self-determination of people's gender could not be legally questioned. Thus, no one can question the sincerity of the 18 requests for gender self-determination, even though this was the number necessary for the party to comply with the principle of parity.

Mexican LGBT groups have questioned the decision as it represents an advantage of resources historically fought by the community, by changing "in an arbitrary and suspicious way the self-registration of 18 male candidates".

Source: ElComún.es