The pro-government majority in the Mexican Senate approved this Thursday a controversial reform that reduces the budget and structure of the electoral body, which according to opponents threatens the independence of that institution, which President Andrés Manuel López Obrador accuses of being onerous.
The proposal It was approved by 68 votes in favor and 50 against.a after a marathon session that began on Wednesday.
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The reform will return to the Chamber of Deputies – where the ruling party Morena and his allies also have a majority -, which had approved it last week and which will now have to review it after the changes made in the Senate. If approved, the reform will finally pass to the Executive to be enacted.
The reform, criticized by the opposition, the electoral authorities and specialists, reduces the structure and budget of the National Electoral Institute (INE)the autonomous body in charge of organizing the elections in Mexico and which López Obrador has accused of being onerous and of having tolerated fraud in the past.
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On Wednesday, the members of the Institute warned that the changes being discussed by the Legislature have “deficiencies that endanger the operation of the electoral processes.”
“The INE was never consulted on the contents of said reform. The Institute was not asked for information, diagnoses or technical opinion on the proposed changes,” he added.
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He also warned that he will resort to all legal instances to “continue guaranteeing free and authentic elections”, which would imply that both the INE and the opposition resort to the Supreme Court of Justice to challenge the reform.
Later, the official senators approved a second opinion of the reform that regulates government propaganda and which, according to the opposition, will allow officials at all levels to proselytize during electoral campaigns with public resources.
The discussion of the so-called “plan B” for electoral reform comes after the rejection of a proposal by the president that modified the Constitution in order to promote profound changes to the INE and reduce seats in the bicameral Congress.
That proposal sought that the electoral councilors and ministers be elected by direct vote and not by the Legislature. It also reduced the number of representatives from 500 to 300 and the number of senators from 128 to 96.
President López Obrador applauded the approval of the reform on Thursday, although he regretted that it is not constitutional in nature.
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“The election system is going to be improved, not as we would have liked because the conservative bloc opposed a constitutional reform,” he said during his usual morning press conference. “Since the constitution could not be amended, it is a limited reform,” he stressed.
Within the framework of the discussion of the electoral reform, a massive march on November 13 against the president’s proposalwho two weeks later led another demonstration with the streets filled with his supporters.
AFP
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