A real bummer

It is not enough to say that the presidential proposal for electoral reform is regressive. It is the final nail in the coffin of a democracy that no longer exists more than a memory, but we refuse to accept it. So it is with good memories, we refuse to accept that they can come to an end.

The opinions against this proposal accumulate, not only from the opposition parties (hopefully): PRI, PAN, PRD and MC. Characters such as Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, one of the key figures in the electoral institutional design, have also given their opinion, who said that the presidential initiative is a “true bullshit.” He stated, quite rightly, that saving the INE is saving democracy.

Another character who has also contributed to the construction of democracy is Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, presidential candidate of the left in 1988, 1994 and 2000. Regarding AMLO’s initiative, Cárdenas assured in a forum that “it puts the autonomy of the INE at risk.” On the same subject, Senator Beatriz Paredes, from the PRI, was harsher: “It is not simply a strong surgical operation, but rather an amputation.”

The signs and warnings about the retrograde character of the presidential proposal have been made from the beginning, since AMLO outlined what its characteristics would be. Experts in electoral law and in studies on democracy pointed out that it was not only a setback, but that it constituted an appropriation of the electoral institutions with a view to 2024.

At the international level there have also been accusations. In response to a request from the INE, the European Commission for Democracy through Law, known as the Venice Commission, issued an opinion on the matter. This body, made up of independent experts from 61 countries, pointed out that the proposed amendments to the Constitution “do not provide sufficient guarantees of the independence and impartiality of the electoral body and the judges of the Electoral Court.” He also stressed that changing a system that “generally works well and is trusted” carries the risk of “undermining that trust.”

Despite all these opinions, President López has gone ahead with his project. It is not strange, after in 2021 and 2022 his party and his allies failed to win the full car, he fears that in 2024 a poor selection of a candidate will lead to a defeat. His favourite, Claudia Sheinbaum, doesn’t seem like a clear winning option. The other two candidates, Ebrard and the other López, either. It is not surprising that in recent days he has complained on several occasions that he lacks time to transform the country. It seems to me that he is reconsidering staying in the presidency after 2024.

Beyond this, it is worrying that the opposition to this regressive electoral reform is organizing so calmly. A movement that should have started months ago is just taking shape. I am referring to Unid@s, an effort that brings together politicians, legislators, businessmen, intellectuals and academics. It should also be noted that recent statements suggest that the so-called “containment bloc” in the Chamber of Deputies may be remade with the PRI, PAN, PRD and MC.

Let us suppose, for analytical purposes, that the president’s regressive proposal for electoral reform is stopped in the Congress of the Union. Is the danger averted? No way. The change of directors is coming with the departure of Lorenzo Córdova Vianello, Adriana Margarita Favela Herrera, José Roberto Ruiz Saldaña and Ciro Murayama Rendón in April of next year.

With this, the possibility opens that López Obrador manages to place two or three substitutes. Additionally, everything indicates that the budget for the INE will again suffer a strong restriction, as a way of annulling the efficiency of the organism. In one way or another, the capture or reduction of the Institute seems inevitable and, therefore, the culmination of the self-coup d’état.

Some mobilizations have already been raised to call citizens to defend the INE, to the formation of state committees with the same purpose and to campaigns on social networks. It is the right way. We must also carry out an international denunciation campaign. For a president who has built before our eyes an authoritarian government on the way to becoming a tyranny, we must raise the cost of his decisions. The cost of being blind, deaf and not very empathic with the problems and needs of citizens.

#YoDefiendoAlINE.