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In Mexico, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has proposed a reform that would transform the Mexican electoral system. According to the Government, the idea is to make it closer to the citizen, but for the opposition, this would allow the electoral system to return to government control. In this edition of El Debate we analyze the intentions and possible effects behind this initiative.
What are the key points of the reform? Centralize elections, promote electronic and foreign voting; reduce party financing; modify campaign propaganda; change the threshold of minimum participation for the revocation of mandate, which would go to a minimum of 33%; reduction of multi-member senators and proposes the disappearance of multi-member deputies.
The reform would seek to eliminate the National Electoral Institute (INE), to be replaced by the National Institute of Elections and Consultations. It also proposes that the electoral advisers be elected by the people, further reducing their number from 11 to 7.
The Government claims that reducing the electoral system will save money and make it more transparent. But some sectors say that what he seeks is to give the ruling party greater control of the electoral system. Others speculate that this reform would allow President López Obrador to think about extending his stay in power.
There is also suspicion regarding the haste of wanting to achieve the reform now, when there are two years left for the presidential elections. The president’s proposal was not liked by part of the population, which took to the streets to demonstrate against it. The controversial reform of the Mexican electoral system is our topic of analysis in this edition of El Debate and we address it with the help of our guests:
– Aleida Alavez, federal deputy and vice coordinator of the Morena parliamentary group.
– Santiago Torreblanca, representative of the PAN party, secretary of the Electoral Political Reform Commission and member of the Constitutional Points Commission.
