Modifications to the electoral norms pass in the Senate

The plenary session of the Chamber of Senators approved in general by 69 votes of Morena, PVEM, PT and PES, 53 of the PAN, PRI, MC, PRD and independent senators against and zero abstentions the decree that modifies the bill that reforms the Law General Law of Electoral Institutions and Procedures (Legipe), General Law of Political Parties (LGPP), Organic Law of the Judicial Power of the Federation (LOPJF) and issues the General Law of the Means of Challenge in Electoral Matters (LGMIME), the so-called ” plan b” of electoral reform.

At press time, the 1,244 reservations on possible additional last-minute modifications, presented by 60 senators from all the political parties represented in the upper house, were discussed in a forum, one by one.

Once the decree has been approved in general and in particular, and because the minutes of the Chamber of Deputies have been amended, the procedure to follow is to return it for a new review.

When reasoning his particular vote, one of the nine that were presented — three from the PAN, two from MC, one from the PRI, another from the PRD and one more from the so-called plural group — Ricardo Monreal outlined that his vote would be against, as it was, from “plan b” of electoral reform to the secondary legislation promoted by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador y Morena, the political party to which he belongs.

His, he said, “is a matter of a personal nature and should not offend anyone because this is a reviewing Chamber and the reviewing Chamber has that constitutional obligation. No one should be surprised that we assume our actions with integrity, I am not naive and I know what I am up against, the only thing I want is for the Constitution to be respected”.

The senator from Zacatecas presented, additionally, 319 reservations of modifications to the five ordinances under discussion and 20 transitory articles.

Along with Monreal, the morenista senator Rafael Espino also voted against.

Opposition

When establishing the position of the PAN parliamentary group, which he coordinates, Julen Rementería lamented that among the various points raised by the reform, he highlights that the 300 district boards of the National Electoral Institute (INE) become temporary.

For Miguel Osorio Chong, coordinator of the PRI bench, the left in the government is betraying the conquests of the left in the opposition with the electoral changes suggested.

While Emilio Álvarez, a senator without a party, interpreted that the fact of building a “reform of this magnitude without the concert of all the political forces, is betting on the conflict in 24 (…) What they are doing with absolute clarity is betting on violence and conflict.

“What does this reform imply? Of course, it threatens the operational capacity of the electoral authority, ”he summarized.

They could use remnants of the financing

They guarantee that parties keep the record without reaching 3%

The reservation presented by Senator Israel Zamora (PVEM) to change the wording of articles 12 and 25 of the Legipe and (LGPP), respectively, to establish the right of political parties to celebrate and promote common candidacies and to be able to use remnants of public and private resources in subsequent fiscal years, was approved by 58 votes from Morena and allies and 49 against the opposition.

The amendment approved to article 12 numeral 2, second paragraph of the Legipe provides:

“The votes will be added for the coalition candidate and will count for each of the political parties for all the purposes established in this law.

“Political parties may nominate candidates under the figure of common candidacy.”

In this case, the logo or emblem of the parties that decide to participate in this modality will appear in the same box of the electoral ballot.

“The parties must enter into an agreement for the distribution of the votes cast.

“All the electoral authorities will interpret the norms according to the grammatical criteria”.

While the last-minute reform to article 25, subparagraph d, second paragraph of the LGPP, establishes:

“The political parties, if they so decide, may use the remnants of their public and private resources for the purposes that were constitutionally granted to them in subsequent fiscal years.” (Roland Ramos)

rolando.ramos@eleconomista.mx