Luis Carlos Ugalde Ramírez (México City1966), is a Mexican academic and politician who was appointed President of Mexico’s Federal Institute since October 2003.

Luis Carlos Ugalde has a BA in Economics from the Instituto Tecnológico Autonomo de México (ITAM) and has two master’s degrees from Columbia University, one in Political Science and another one in Public Administration. He has a PhD in Political Science, also from Columbia University. He has vast experience teaching and on academic research in several institutions in Mexico such as ITAM, Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economica (CIDE), Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey and abroad, such as the Rockfeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University, Georgetown University and American University. His posses experience in the public sector in Mexico, as he was Chief of Staff at the Energy Secretary and Mexican Embassy at Washington.

On October 31st, 2003 the Mexican Congress appointed Luis Carlos Ugalde as president of the Federal Electoral Institute. He was in charge of the 2006 Mexican federal elections, that despite of being a peaceful and transparent process it was questioned by the runner up candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

The 2006 Mexican federal election has been the most contested one in the history of all the electoral processes in Mexico. The difference between the winner and the runner up was of only 0.56%. On September 5th, 2006, the Electoral Tribunal, established that according to the totality of votes, Felipe Calderon Hinojosa won the election with 14 million 916 thousand 927 votes, equivalent to the 35.89%, versus 14 million 683 thousand 096 votes, equivalent to the 35.33% obtained by Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Another relevant fact is that the 2006 election in Mexico was scrutinized by 693 international visitors, 25,321 national electoral observers, 1992 local and district electoral councils and 393,126 political parties’ representatives at the polling stations.

The Constitutional Bill of 2007, in one of its articles, establishes the anticipated removal of three of the Electoral Counselors, including the President.