Once known as “the children of the democracy“, the political parties are today its main detractors. The original idea is from Max Weber, and dates back to the beginning of the 19th century. Since then they were already pointed out as the “tip of the iceberg” of a greater evil, the degradation of the democratic functioningTwo hundred years later, it is no exception.
The system of matches in Mexico is in frank mutation. After concentrating 89% of the Mexican electorate’s vote for 30 years, PRI, PAN and PRD are displaced by MORENA. Not only do they lose the presidency of the Republic in 2018, but in the last six years they suffer a exile in those territories, once considered their electoral strongholds. While the PRD loses registrationhe PRI is defeated in 11 governorships in the last five years and the PAN even stops being a government in Yucatan and Jaliscoto name a few cases.
In response to this series of political, electoral and social disasters, the party leaders of the main opposition political formations They cling to whatever little or much is left. They manage defeat.
Alejandro Moreno, “Alito”, change the statutes of the PRI to remain 8 more years in national leadershipHis permanence translates into a greater concentration of power, unmatched by any other leader in 89 years. The president will have the power to appoint parliamentary leaders in Congress and the Senate, reduce the membership of the Political Council, remove and appoint local party leaders, as well as “control” the organization’s financial debt.
In National ActionIt is not about a person, but about a dynamic. Marko Cortes It is not the culprit, it is an inertia from the years of Felipe Calderón in 1996. The “padroneros” are those leaders or leaders accused by their opponents of suffocating the democratic life of the organization and controlling the militancy through the party organs. The change of leadership will take place in October, under the same principle.
In it PRD no longer exists. It did not have the 3% of votes required to maintain registration. Some of the critics of this formation, among them Lopez Obradoraccused at the time “los Chuchos” of monopolizing the governing bodies of the political institute. This current, labeled thus in honor of the leaders of Jesus Zambrano and Jesus Ortegaexercised decisive control within the ranks of the PRD, at least since 1994.
It is not surprising that a politician or a political group should cling to power. To find generosity or common sense would be surprising, but also naive. Power is not shared. So why should we be interested in the efforts of someone, some people or a movement to dominate the institution?
The quality of democracy in a society is measured by the quality of the internal democracy of its parties. When parties stifle their decision-making bodies, if leaders hijack their participation mechanisms, if leaders sabotage talent and opt for other types of complicity, all of this directly affects the quality of democracy in the country. In short, their practices – without mentioning whether they are justified or not – sabotage the quality of democratic functioning in the country and with it, the (dis)esteem of the population towards this form of government. Seen in this light, it harms us all.
Two facts to remember. According to Latinobarómetro, Mexican society’s appreciation for authoritarian values has been increasing. While in 2000, 61% of Mexicans believed that democracy was preferable to another political regime, regardless of what “democracy” meant to each person, in 2020 it was 43% and in 2023, 35%. A loss of 8 percentage points in three years and 26 during the years of alternation. (https://www.latinobarometro.org/latContents.jsp)
On the other hand, Mexico is one of the countries where politics has been most judicialized. For years, partisan political actors have found in judicialization an opportunity to degrade the political capital of their adversaries. To such an extent that it became normal for political parties to go to the Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Branch of the Federation (TEPJF) to resolve their conflicts. Between 1996 and 2019, more than 210,000 cases were resolved, of which more than 83,000 ended their chain in the Superior Chamber of the TEPJF. (https://integralia.com.mx/web/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Tema3-Sub1.pdf) The exception became the norm in the eyes of the citizenry, with its consequent democratic disappointment.
The (dis)interest in internal democracy and strategic formation comes from the disenchantment with the capacity of the parties to reform society and rethink the procedures for democratic decision-making. With their conduct, “Alito” Moreno, the padroneros or “los Chuchos” of any political party, including Movimiento Ciudadano, prevent the renewal of the institutional life of the country. If we do not understand this reality, the opposition will not be an alternative and we will continue to think of internal conflicts as something alien to the citizenry. It is not so much that authoritarian regimes can coexist with the presence of parties, but liberal democracy is non-existent without them. It is urgent to recover them.
So be it.
Juan Alfonso Mejía has a PhD in Political Science and is a social activist in favor of education.
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