51�Թ�

He says the INE is biased and corrupt.

"We do not want our autonomous institutions to be attacked, we want to defend our democracy, we want the INE... to be independent, and we want our president to keep his hands off the election," demonstrator Diana Arnaiz was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

Last year, the leader slashed funding for the country’s electoral agency, National Electoral Institute, and weaken oversight of campaign spending, something INE’s head said could “wind up poisoning democracy itself.”

Mexico's national electoral authority INE last month resolved that all political parties must nominate at least five women to compete for the nine elections next year to head regional governments, including the capital Mexico City - part of a decades-long push for greater representation that has led to dramatic results in the socially conservative country.

Carla Humphrey, an INE commissioner who has helped lead the charge for equal representation, said the watershed dates back to gender parity recommendations enshrined in law in the 1990s.