Mexico | President Mexico Proposes Democratic Reform of the Electoral System

Mexico’s president proposes “democratic” reform of the electoral system. This proposal by López Obrador, which would modify 18 articles of the Constitution, would create the National Institute of Elections and Consultations to replace INE and federalize the elections to eliminate the autonomous electoral bodies of the 32 states.

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Mexico | The initiative, which was sent to Congress on Thursday, would also eliminate proportional representation or multi-member parliamentarians, with the Chamber of Deputies going from 500 to 300, while the Senate from 128 to 96 representatives.


Under the proposal, local congresses would have a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 45 members, while councilors for city councils would also decrease.

Unlike the INE, which has 11 members elected by consensus in Congress, the new electoral institute would have seven members who must be chosen by popular vote from a list of 60 candidates presented by the executive, legislative and judicial branches.

This reinforces, which must be approved by two-thirds of Congress to be constitutional, is causing controversy because it intends to make the INE, the former Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), which emerged in the 1990s as an autonomous body to remove control of elections of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) governments.

“There is no intention of imposing a single party, what we want is for there to be an authentic and true democracy in the country and an end to electoral fraud”, justified López Obrador at a press conference.

The main opposition parties have already spoken out against these changes, reports the Associated Press (AP).

The Mexican government also argues that this reform will save 24,000 million pesos (about 1,100 million euros).


The initiative would also reduce the funding of political parties, which would be able to use only political resources in campaigns.


At the same time, government propaganda is redefined so that government officials can now speak out during campaigns, something that has so far been prohibited in elections.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador stressed that this reform would eliminate fraud, a situation the governor insists he suffered in 2006, when he lost the presidential election to Felipe Calderón.


The government is also committed to creating electronic voting and making it easier for citizens abroad to vote.


Although the Mexican President won the 2018 election with more than 50% of the votes and his alliance of parties now controls the majority in Congress and half of the state governments, López Obrador insisted on the urgency of reform, accusing the INE of being “against he”.

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