Mexico.- The major political parties in Mexico coincide in the need for electoral reform through various initiatives presented.
Specialists in electoral law recognize that changes in coincidences can materialize as electronic voting, the reduction of legislators and even the elimination of OPLES; however, they highlight a block to Morena’s intention to transform the INE into the National Institute of Elections and Consultations and elect the electoral advisers and magistrates of the Electoral Tribunal through popular election.
Matches
Morena’s coordinator in the Chamber of Deputies, Ignacio Mier, pointed out that they are seeking, with their counterparts from different parties, to prepare an opinion on the electoral reform promoted by the president. Notably In addition to Morena, the PAN, PRI and PT have their own reform initiatives.
Miguel Ángel Lara Otaola, doctor in electoral integrity, pointed out that the coincidences between the proposals change in details, which could lead the parties to debate and define agreements. “In what there is no coincidence, fortunately, is in this dismantling of the INE.
PAN, PRI, PRD and Movimiento Ciudadano have repeated it: they are not going to allow any reform that weakens the INE, that violates its autonomy. We hope that this will continue, so that we continue to protect and care for the INE”, he pointed out.
INE
The specialist analyzed in an interview to Debate that with the executive’s proposal, Morena is saying that she is looking for an austere and democratically elected arbitrator. The above, as he stated, sounds good in the abstract, although in reality he considered it to be misleading.
Lara Otaola explained that the INE budget is around 13 billion pesoswhich represents something like 50 cents for every 100 pesos of the public budget in Mexico.
“If this is saved, there is no significant budget change, but it can have serious changes in terms of governance”, he stressed.
In this regard, he added that the INE is not the most expensive electoral body in the world, as Morena has been repeating, and it is not expensive if all its functions are considered in Mexico, with a country of more than 80 million voters.
Lara Otaola clarified that the way in which the INE budget is accounted for, considers the money from the political parties as a whole, that is, the INE distributes it, it is not all for its operating expenses. “Democracy is priceless and, on the contrary, having austerity in this can bring very high costs, sacrificing the quality of the elections and their legitimacy,” she opined.
advisers
Marcos Francisco del Rosario Rodríguez, coordinator of the Electoral Law Commission of the Mexican Bar Association, said in an interview for Debate that there are aspects of the president’s initiative that will not pass and others that may be the subject of discussion and deliberation. He analyzed that it is difficult for the modification proposed by the executive to pass regarding the integration of the INE councilors, and the election of magistrates of the Electoral Court, by way of popular election. “There is natural resistance even from the opposition bloc, such as the president of the PRI,” said Del Rosario Rodríguez.
In that sense, Miguel Ángel Lara Otaola added that in reality the INE is already democratically elected. He explained that two thirds of the Chamber of Deputies is needed to select the councilors, which requires that all the political forces that Mexicans voted for participate, vote and deliberate.
“The procedure we currently have works. We have a public call, exams, interviews, there is a very specialized technical evaluation committee, ”he said.
Green light
In contrast, the specialists pointed out the aspects of the initiatives that could go through. Marcos Francisco del Rosario Rodríguez considered that, in this sense, the reduction in the number of members of the chambers could advance. For example, the PRI proposes the reduction of 200 federal deputies, just like Morena, only that the latter also adds the reduction of senators. In addition, Morena’s proposal proposes to eliminate the OPLES and the state electoral courts, which, for the specialist, could also be put on the table and perhaps prosper.
Both experts on electoral matters agreed that issues such as party oversight and budgets, electronic voting, the second round of elections, the figure of vice-president, could advance or be discussed in an important way. “The PAN has an interesting topic, which is about the validity of the elections when the presence of organized crime is detected, that a possible express nullity should be raised in the norm when there is an influence of the process. Currently, as such, it is not express, “said Marcos Francisco del Rosario Rodríguez.
Time
The also ITESO academic explained that if these new rules are to be incorporated for the electoral process, which would begin in September 2023 and would lead to and culminate in the 2024 election day, the reform must be carried out in this ordinary period or no later than the next period. The foregoing, because the constitution and the regulatory law indicate that there are 90 days prior to the start of the electoral process, that the modifications must be approved.
“I think it is very likely that we will see, at least in this first regular session, at least at the level of the chambers, that this approval will already be obtained or probably both, as we have seen in recent reforms,” he said. .
It should be noted that in the Chamber of Deputies, the president of the board of directors, Santiago Creel, denied that until now there has been an official call to promote any opinion related to the electoral reform, rather, he acknowledged that there has been much speculation about it.
To understand…
We will vote against Morena’s reform: Deputy
For the federal deputy of Sinaloa for the PRI, Paloma Sánchez, taking care of the autonomy of the INE is paramount in the framework of the initiatives that seek an electoral reform. “First, clarify that the PRI will never vote in favor of a reform that violates the rules of the democratic game,” she said in an interview for Debate.
Impulse
The legislator recalled that the PRI created the Federal Electoral Institute and the National Electoral Institute in response to citizen demands for free and transparent elections. She considered that she cannot risk that in any way. In this regard, she added that they have to choose the proposals that strengthen the institutions and reject those that aim to eliminate the INE or affect its autonomy.
“As the opposition, we have already voted against the electricity reform, the militarization of the National Guard and we will also vote against the reform proposed by the Morena government,” he assured. v
the voice of the expert
Deficiencies in the proposal of Morena and the president: Leonardo Valdés Zurita
Former President Councilor of the IFE. Academic
The initiative of the president and Morena regarding the electoral reform has deficiencies that make it likely that it will not pass in the chambers, said Leonardo Valdés Zurita, who was the president of the Federal Electoral Institute between 2008 and 2013. Debate, He added that the great electoral reforms in Mexico have arisen from various proposals from the opposition and civil society, that is, in this case, what is intended does not respond to any demand or proposal in that sense, but rather is promoted by the power.
In addition to this, he pointed out that the previous reforms were arranged by the opposition before being formally presented. “It means that before the president or the parliamentary groups presented their initiatives, the proposals were built together. This initiative did not come out this way, ”he criticized. The also academic at the Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla considered that a third deficiency of the proposal is that the great reforms that have been made are put to the test in the intermediate elections, preparing for the most important elections that are the presidential ones.
We recommend you read:
“I think that due to these deficiencies, it is very difficult for the initiative to pass through the legislative space,” he said.
#Electoral #reform #initiatives #PAN #PRI #Morena #coincide