10th June, 2015
Mexico City (AFP) – Mexico manager Miguel Herrera and two of his star players could face fines of $9,000 each for tweeting their support for a political party during elections, their football federation said.
Hector Gonzalez Inarritu, director of the federation’s national teams, on Tuesday said Herrera admitted that he “was completely wrong” in writing his support for the Green Party on Twitter as Mexicans voted in midterm elections last Sunday.
Herrera and his players Oribe Peralta and Marco Fabian tweeted in favor the Greens hours before Mexico lost 2-0 to Brazil in a friendly.
“Let’s support the team. Don’t forget to vote, let’s go with the greens,” wrote Herrera, whose team will play in the Copa America tournament in Chile, which starts on Thursday.
The federation’s disciplinary commission will decide whether the trio will be fined following an investigation, Gonzalez Inarritu told Radio Formula.
He said the Mexican Football Ethics Code states that teams must maintain a “neutral position in religious and political issues” and urges them to prevent personal interests from causing “conflicts of interest” between the federation, its members and third parties.
The Green Party drew controversy in the runup to the elections for violating campaign rules, resulting in more than $30 million in fines.
The party is expected to win around seven percent of the vote and increase its representation in the 500-member lower chamber of Congress.
It is allied with President Enrique Pena Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party, which got the most votes with around 29 percent of the ballots.