February 27 |

The Mexican opposition took to the streets this Sunday in several cities of the country to protest against a controversial electoral reform promoted by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador which, they allege, puts the 2024 general elections at risk.

On Wednesday, the Senate, dominated by the ruling Morena party and its allies, culminated the approval of a reform to the National Electoral Institute (INE) that, among other things, cuts its budget and competencies by closing offices and dismissing officials for millionaire savings.

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

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

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

Veronica Echevarria, a 58-year-old psychologist from Mexico City who was participating in the protest, said she was concerned that the INE reform is an attempt by Lopez Obrador to take control of the electoral authority so he can stay in power.

“We are fighting to defend our democracy,” she said, decked out in a cap that read “INE is not touched.”

Late 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.

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The changes have been seen by analysts as an attempt by the president to weaken INE and generate a democratic step backwards. But the president has defended his initiative by assuring that it 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 (Lopez Obrador) is generating uncertainty,” said Fernando Belaunzaran, an opposition politician who helped organize the protest.

This Sunday Belaunzarán announced on his social networks that there would be marches in more than 100 cities.

In June next year Mexicans will elect the successor to Lopez Obrador, a 69-year-old leftist who claims he was robbed of the presidency twice before he finally won a landslide victory in the 2018 election.

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

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According to INE’s own analysis, the reform puts at risk the preparation of the electoral roll, the installation of polling stations, the vote computations and the auditing of political parties and electoral campaigns.

López Obrador said this week that the institution is one of the most expensive electoral bodies, besides having an “anti-democratic” role, and described this Sunday’s protests as “a demonstration to defend the old corrupt regime”.

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

Polls show that Morena is the heavy favorite to win the 2024 elections. However, critics argue that López Obrador is not so confident that his party can retain power without interfering in the electoral process.

“(The reform) significantly affects INE’s operational capacity, as well as the organization of Election 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 purpose of the president is to steal the 2024 elections”.

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