Thousands of Mexicans protest against electoral reform promoted by López Obrador

Yesterday the Mexican opposition carried out protests in various cities of the country against a controversial electoral reform promoted by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that, according to the protesters, puts the 2024 general elections at risk.

Last Wednesday, the Senate, dominated by the ruling party Morena and his allies, completed the approval of a reform to the National Electoral Institute (INE) that, among other things, cuts its budget and powers through the closure of offices and the dismissal of officials allowing millionaire savings.

In Mexico City, thousands of protesters filled the emblematic capital square of the Zócalo, the center of Mexican power, and surrounding streets, many of them dressed in pink clothing, the color of the electoral institution that the protests have taken as a symbol.

Among the participants was Alejandro Moreno, president and deputy of one of the main opposition groups, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

“Mexican men and women are on the side of democracy, together we make ourselves heard so that the country’s democratic institutions are not destroyed!”Moreno said in a tweet accompanied by a photo of himself in the middle of the protests.

Verónica Echevarría, a 58-year-old psychologist from Mexico City who was participating in the protest, said she was concerned that López Obrador’s reform of the INE was an attempt to seize control of the electoral authority in order to stay in power.

“We are fighting to defend our democracy”she said, dressed in a cap on which one could read “The INE is not touched”.

At the end of last year, thousands of people also came out to protest against the reform. Once it enters into force, the opposition will appeal the modifications before the Supreme Court of Justice.

The changes have been seen by analysts as an attempt by the president, known as AMLO, to weaken the INE and generate democratic setbacks. But the president has defended his initiative, assuring that he will strengthen democracy and reduce the influence of economic interests in politics.

“Normally, presidents seek to have governability and stability for their succession. But the president (López Obrador) is generating uncertainty”said Fernando Belaunzarán, an opposition politician who helped organize the protest.

Belaunzarán pointed out yesterday on his social networks that there will be marches in more than 100 cities.

In June next year, Mexicans will elect a successor to López Obrador, a 69-year-old leftist who claims the presidency was stolen from him twice before he finally won a landslide in the 2018 election.

Although the changes approved this week are less ambitious than the original constitutional reform sought by the president, they significantly modify the composition of the INE and eliminate 85% of the positions in its professional service, a mechanism that guarantees equal opportunities in access to public administration based on merit.

According to an analysis by the INE itself, the reform jeopardizes the preparation of the electoral roll, the installation of polling stations, the performance of the vote counts and the supervision of political parties and electoral campaigns.

attack organism

AMLO pointed out during the week that the institution is one of the most expensive electoral organizations in addition to having a role “antidemocratic”and described the protests on Sunday as “a demonstration to defend the old corrupt regime”.

For many political analysts, the INE and its predecessor, the IFE, played a key role in helping to create a pluralistic democracy that, in the year 2000, ended decades of rule by the once-all-powerful Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

Polls show Morena to be the overwhelming favorite to win the 2024 elections. However, critics argue that AMLO is less confident that his party can retain power without interfering in the electoral process.

“(The reform) significantly affects the operational capacity of the INE, as well as the organization of electoral day, which would be subject to multiple risks, given the weakening of the highest electoral body”said Senator Gina Cruz, of the opposition National Action Party (PAN). “The ultimate and real goal of the president is to steal the 2024 elections”he asserted.

Source: Reuters