The Mexican president seeks to modify 400 articles of fundamental laws, but a mass population is against
Peru withdraws its ambassador in Mexico due to the interference of López Obrador
The Zócalo, in Mexico City, brought together thousands of people this Sunday, some sources point out that there were 100,000 (the organizers 500,000), who protested the electoral reform carried out by the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). It was not the only city or the only state that took to the streets. 30,000 people did so in Nuevo León, the same number in Jalisco, 10,000 in Querétaro, 5,000 in Michoacán, and 3,000 in Puebla. The indignation-filled meetings chanted slogans such as “my vote is not plagiarized!, my vote is not touched!” or “That’s why I came here, to defend the INE!” referring to the National Electoral Institute. A large part of the Mexican population, and the opposition en masse, are against the so-called electoral ‘Plan B’ of the Mexican president and defend the National Electoral Institute (INE), which is in charge of a fundamental role, in addition to many others, such as person in charge of ensuring free and independent voting on Mesoamerican soil every time elections are held.

Considered one of the few independent organizations in Mexico, the president has carried out an arduous battle to eradicate it, but given the impossibility of this option, he has decided to transform it to take it to his land and change its members to put their related as representatives of the INE.

Plan B
What is known as AMLO’s Plan B continues its legislative course, approved in the Mexican Senate with 72 votes in favor and 50 against, it has passed to the Chamber of Deputies, which must ratify the opinion for its publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) and obtain its entry into force. The president of the INE, Lorenzo Córdova, has warned that the implementation of this plan B will be appealed before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) on various points of the controversial law, for which reason it may be challenged as unconstitutional.
President López Obrador intends nothing less than to modify the Organic Law of the Judiciary, the General Law of Electoral Institutions and Procedures, as well as the General Law of Political Parties. It also seeks changes to guarantee the vote for vulnerable populations, which, for example, it tries to bring together by criticizing a ‘mysterious’ common enemy (our country) or regularizing gender parity quotas to, for example, form the INE with all women , but behind what is hidden a renewal for its benefit. In addition, he guarantees the vote to people in pretrial detention and with disabilities in a state of prostration.

The reforms propose the elimination of personnel specialized in electoral matters and the early removal of the executive secretary of the INE, Edmundo Jacobo, as well as the elimination of the General Executive Board, an area that determined the management of resources.

Second try
The first reform of the INE was attempted last year, but the presidential proposal that reduced the number of legislators and changed the financing of political parties was rejected for not having Morena (National Regeneration Movement, López Obrador’s party) with two thirds of the Chamber of Deputies. That bill included the election of the INE directors and the magistrates of the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary (TEPJF).

AMLO already had a plan B prepared that modifies the electoral law and for which he only needs a simple majority, that is, half plus one. As always, the Mexican president blamed the “oligarchies” that, in his opinion, continue to pull the strings of power on Mesoamerican soil and that prevent him from continuing with his proposal. Among the current modifications is the reduction of 85% of the staff of the professional service of the INE, the disappearance of the majority of district boards and committees, immediate relief of the executive secretary and strengthening of the internal control body of the INE, giving results the same day of election day, appointment of polling station representatives at the last minute and issuance of documents to vote abroad by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE)