Legislators in the Chamber of Deputies rushed through watered-down tweaks to Mexico’s electoral system after President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s wider package of reforms was unable to obtain the two-thirds majority required to activate changes to provisions of the Mexican Constitution.
AMLO’s original initiative included a major revamp of the independent National Electoral Institute (INE), a reduction in the number of federal legislators, cuts in public resources to political parties and the election of electoral tribunal representatives and magistrates, among other proposals. Opposition to his proposals sparked protests around the country, as Mexicans voiced fears that meddling with the INE would endanger the country’s newly found democracy.
The “Plan B,” which was hurried through the floor of the house and required only a simple majority from the ruling Morena Party and its allies, could see the INE’s budget reduced by as much as three billion pesos and will shorten the duration of electoral processes.
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