Woldenberg asks legislators to avoid designations of “electoral authorities by way”

By assuring that free and balanced elections are irreplaceable in Mexico, the march this Sunday in defense of the National Electoral Institute (INE) concluded with a call from the former president of the then Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), José Woldenberg, to legislators in the federal Congress and in the state Congresses, so that they “defend what has been built on democratic matters and do not lead our country to a stage that has been fortunately overcome: that of authoritarianism that was aided by electoral authorities as”.

Before thousands of citizens without affiliation, members of social organizations, such as the National Civic Front; Citizen Power; Yes for Mexico and Civil Society MX, as well as party activists, all gathered this Sunday at the Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City, Jose Woldenberg -as the only speaker at the march- reviewed the electoral reforms from 1988 to 2014, defended the electoral rules constructed and said that free and balanced elections are irreplaceable in the country.

“Our future cannot be the result of seduction by a past that was banished in good time. The next electoral appointments must have the same guarantees as those of the immediate past: reliable census, fairness in the conditions of the competition, impartiality in professional officials, accurate counting of the votes, preliminary results the same night as the election.

“We call on all the parliamentary groups without exclusions or exceptions, those that make up the chambers of the federal Congress and the 32 Congresses of the entities, to defend what has been built on democratic matters and not lead our country to a stage that has been successfully overcome. : that of authoritarianism that was aided by electoral authorities in a manner. We endorse our commitment to democracy, we defend an electoral system that protects everyone and the replacement of governments by democratic and peaceful means, ”he said.

In front of the assistants who carried banners with the legend “I defend the INE”, Woldenberg Karakowsky expressed a “No” to the destruction of the National Electoral Instituteof local public bodies, of the courts, as well as the intention of aligning them with the will of the government, and a “Yes” to democracy and a democratic Mexico.

He said that those attending the march this Sunday are people “exercising our right to demonstrate, to express our opinion, to meet peacefully to express our concerns and aspirations, we are part of a tide of opinion that appreciates and defends democracy.”

As a country, we were able to build a germinal democracy. We left behind the country of a single party, of oppressive presidentialism, of elections without competition or authentic options, of constitutional powers that functioned as appendages of the executive, of mostly pro-government media, to make way for the expression and recreation of diversity. politics, to free, disputed and credible elections, to plural Congresses, governments of different orientation, checks and balances in the state framework and a virtuous spiral that expanded the exercise of freedoms”, he said.

The former president of IFE He said that to reach this moment in Mexico, mobilizations, struggles, denunciations, many agreements and the creation of electoral norms and institutions capable of guaranteeing equity were required. He mentioned that between 1988 and 2014 eight electoral reforms were carried out, the results of which are visible.

“It was necessary to build autonomous authorities, courts capable of resolving conflict, building equitable conditions for different political forces and we got used to diversity, to competed powers, to alternation in executives, to plural Congresses and to mechanisms for dialogue, negotiation and agreements,” he said.

He added that the constitutional and peaceful alternation of presidential power occurred for the first time in Mexico thanks to that democratizing power of millions of people, and whose culmination was the INE.

“The power has changed, the legislative power has picked up the changes in the political preferences of millions. The minorities of yesterday are the majorities of today and throughout the country this has been repeated for almost three decades. We have not yet reached a final station or a paradise, just a germinal democracy, but one that has allowed us to accept political plurality and that it can coexist and compete peacefully ”, he added.

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Faced with hundreds of people who expressed “the reform will not happen, it will not happen” and “the INE will not touch it”, José Woldenberg affirmed that the major problem now is that a good part of what has been built is wanted to be destroyed by the government.

“It is necessary to insist on that, because it means not only an attack on existing institutions, but also on the possibility of processing our political life in a democratic format. Mexico cannot return to an electoral institution aligned with the government, incapable of guaranteeing the impartiality of the entire electoral process, our country does not deserve to return to the past, because what has been built allows authentic elections, the cornerstone of any democratic system.

“Mexico cannot destroy the electoral skills, the commitments acquired and the commitment of the officials that make up the career civil services. Mexico cannot centralize all the electoral processes in two huge institutions, not only because we are -according to the Constitution- a federal Republic, but because neither the INE nor a single court will be able to efficiently what today finds channel and solution in 32 sovereign entities ” , held.

He stated that since the last electoral reform in 2014, 55,356 positions in elections have been disputed throughout the country, including 55 governorships, 93 Legislatures and 5,932 city councils.

“With such numbers I ask you: is it desirable and possible to concentrate, centralize and manage this political universe in a single institution?” Woldenberg asked, while the attendees responded with a “No” in unison.

“That is why Mexico cannot unceremoniously get rid of the federalist framework in electoral matters without losing efficiency and confidence, nor of the courts in electoral matters because they are still necessary to vent the permanent litigation that accompanies our elections.

“Mexico does not need a constitutional reform in electoral matters promoted by a single will, however relevant it may be. There are important lessons in the past, the reforms that were the fruit of collective freedoms forged with the proven methods of dialogue and agreement.

“Mexico cannot and should not transfer the electoral roll to another institution because the INE has more than complied with the preparation of a reliable list, whose credentials have become de facto the citizen identity card. Mexico would experience avoidable, unnecessary, endless and costly conflicts if the electoral norms are not the product of the consensus of the main political forces of the country”, he warned.

“Those of us who are here today, citizens, all in the exercise of our rights, know that different ways of thinking beat in the country, different interests and value bodies, various political and ideological platforms, and that only from the most blind authoritarianism can one aspire to to homogenize that wealth of expressions”, he stated.

At the end of the message Jose Woldenberg, Fernando Belaunzára He left those attending the march three tasks: spread the word and place the legend on their homes and cars: “The INE is not touched”; in addition to creating defense committees in their communities that are open and plural, in addition to being aware when the Chamber of Deputies calls for an opinion on electoral reform initiatives.

jorge.monroy@eleconomista.mx

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