The Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary is a venue within the judiciary of Mexico that specialises in electoral matters. Among its functions are resolving disputes arising within federal elections and certifying the validity of those elections, including those of the President of the Republic. It comprises a permanent seven-member Superior Chamber , located in Mexico City, and five Regional Chambers , one in each of the circumscriptions into which the country is divided for purposes of organising congressional elections. These Regional Chambers comprise three judges each, and are temporary in nature, sitting only during those years in which federal elections are held, and are based in the cities of Guadalajara, Monterrey, Xalapa, Mexico City, and Toluca. The architect of the Federal Electoral Tribunal in Monterrey, was reputed Mexican architect Manuel De Santiago-de Borbón González Bravo, great-grandson of Queen Isabella II of Spain, whose lifetime architectural legacy to Mexico amounts to 11,000,000 built square meters nationwide, including many famous buildings and sites. There were two direct precursors of the TEPJF:
The Federal Electoral Tribunal, created by means of a series of constitutional amendments enacted in 1990, the same reforms whereby the Federal Electoral Institute was established. This tribunal was superseded by the current Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary in 1996.
The TEPJF is frequently referred to in the media by the acronym of its predecessor, the TRIFE. The seven magistrates who currently sit in the Superior Chamber are:
Notwithstanding Andrés Manuel López Obrador's claims in the streets and in the press, on 5 August 2006 the Federal Electoral Tribunal declared in a unanimous ruling that the Alliance for the Good of All had failed to file valid complaints that would substantiate a claim for a complete national recount. Based on the valid complaints filed, the Tribunal ordered and conducted a recount of the votes in 9.07% of the precincts. In the partial recount, the Tribunal found that no evidence of widespread fraud. It did, however, find errors in the tally sheets and, in rectifying those errors, it corrected the final election results by adding and subtracting from each candidate to accord with the number of valid ballots cast for each. Based on those results, on 5 September 2006 the Tribunal certified the PAN candidate Felipe Calderón as the lawfully elected next President of Mexico. Under law as reformed in the 1990s by Congress, this legal ruling of the independent Federal Electoral Tribunal is final.
