Reforma, Mexico City, December 15, 2022
By Mayolo López and Erika Hernández
Last night, Morena's [Movement for National Regeneration] plurality, together with its allies in the Senate, carried out a blow to the structure of the National Electoral Institute (INE), which, according to members of the electoral institute's governing body, puts voter registration, the counting of votes and the control of expenditures at risk, among other central activities of the national democratic voting institution.
The approved reform also greatly reduces the size of the Professional Electoral Service [administrative personnel] and merges the structures of the INE and the regional-level voting organizations. At least 2,175 Professional Service employees will be laid off as regional boards go from having permanent staff to being temporary [functioning only during the periods of election campaigns]. This represents 84.6% of positions. In addition, another 2,000 administrative workers will be dismissed.
According to a diagnosis released by the current eleven governors of the electoral institute, the so-called "Plan B" eliminates the structure of permanent subdivisions within the INE and reduces the Professional Electoral Service to a minimum, which will result in preventing having qualified personnel to supervise the elections.
In the voting on the reform, the Morena fraction gained the support of the legislators of the PT [Workers Party], PVEM [Mexico Green Party], and PES [Social Encounter Party], with 69 votes in favor compared to 53 votes against by the Opposition. The opposition votes included those of the Morena caucus leader, Ricardo Monreal [which was extraordinary], and that of the president of the Legislative Review Committee, Rafael Espino.
Before casting his vote, Monreal said
"I want to make clear that this is strictly a personal matter. I am not naive. I know what I am up against. The only thing I want is for the Constitution to be respected."
After Monreal cast his vote, he was applauded and embraced by opposition leaders.
Without the strength to prevent the coup against the INE, opposition senators raised banners describing the passage of the legislation as "treason against the Homeland" that was being encouraged by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador [aka AMLO].MV Note: In the past, Monreal has been a close ally of President López Obrador, but has distanced himself in the runup to the voting on the electoral reform. This joining the oppostion to López Obrador's wishes may have to do with his possible hopes to be the opposition's candidate for the presidency in 2024. López Obrador openly supports Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum, Head of Government of Mexico City. See: Sen. Monreal, Head of Morena Caucus in the Senate, on the Hot Seat with Electoral Plan B
Germán Martínez, from the Plural Group [caucus of independents], said from the podium:
"Don't tell me that democracy was born in the 4T manger .... You want to silence the INE forever,"
MV Note: "The 4T" is short for the Fourth Transformation, AMLO's designation of his administration as a revolution in Mexico's government equal to the War for Independence from Spain, the Reform Period of the government of Benito Juárez and the Mexican Revolution.
Clemente Castañeda, the coordinator of Citizens Movement, stated with assurance that the purpose of "Plan B" is to
"dismantle the electoral system as a whole, focusing the weapons on the election referee. There is a deep hatred of the INE in this reform."
MV Note: President López Obrador has long been critical of the INE and its predecessor, the Federal Electoral Institute, accusing them of being a party to "electoral frauds" responsible for his losses in the presidential elections of 2006 and 2012. This "electoral reform" is seen by his critics as his act of revenge.
César Cravioto, from Morena, argued that the reform seeks to end the privileges of interest groups, and he left handkerchiefs on the podium for the opponents to wipe "the tears from their faces."
Last night, René Miranda, director of the INE's Federal Register of Voters, submitted his resignation from office, arguing that the reform will impact the supervision of the voter registration roll. In addition, the coordinator of International Affairs of the INE, Manuel Carrillo, announced his retirement.
In exchange for having voted in favor of the so-called electoral "Plan B", the PT and PVEM received a so-called "eternal life clause" which guarantees their survival as political parties through the transfer of votes [between parties running coalition candidates]. Senator Israel Zamora, of the PVEM, presented an amendment that will protect the existence of the little parties through coalition agreements [sharing candidates with Morena, which is by far the largest and most popular party]. The amendment obtained 58 votes in favor and 49 against.
"This agreement does not violate the constitutional requirement. This option provides the power for the parties to make coalitions," he said.
MV Note: The Mexican Constitution requies that political parties receive at least 3% of the vote in each national election in order to retain their registration as a party and, thus, receive government funding and be able to continue to participate in subsequent elections. The Workers and the Green Parties fear that, with the new electoral system, they will not be able to achieve the 3% cut off.
Without the six votes of the Green Party and the five of the Workers Party in the Senate, the electoral package that weakens the National Electoral Institute (INE) would not have passed.
This amendment has been disavowed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who distanced himself from the measure that had been originally incorporated in the legislation in the Chamber of Deputies.
The coordinator of the Plural Group, Emilio Álvarez Icaza, made the accusation that this protection of the small parties was "a payment for favors" so that PVEM and PT would vote for the package of electoral laws.