Citizen
organizations
march in
support
of
Mexico's
National
Elections
Institute
as
President
Andrés
Manuel
López
Obrador
pushes
to
reform
it, in
Mexico
City,
Sunday,
Nov. 13,
2022.
(AP
Photo/Marco
Ugarte) |
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Citizen
organizations
rally at
Mexico
City's
iconic
"Angel
of
Independence"
monument
in
support
of
Mexico's
National
Elections
Institute
as
President
Andrés
Manuel
Lopez
Obrador
pushes
to
overhaul
it,
Sunday,
Nov. 13,
2022.
(AP
Photo/Marco
Ugarte) |
|
Massive
turnout
in
defense
of
Mexico's
electoral
authority
By
FABIOLA
SÁNCHEZ
apnews.com
MEXICO
CITY -
Tens of
thousands
of
people
packed
the
Mexican
capital’s
main
boulevard
Sunday
to
protest
President
Andrés
Manuel
López
Obrador’s
proposal
to
overhaul
the
country’s
electoral
authority
in the
largest
demonstration
against
one of
the
president’s
efforts
during
his
nearly
four
years in
office.
The
massive
turnout
was a
strong
rebuke
of the
president’s
assertion
that
criticism
comes
only
from a
relatively
small,
elite
opposition.
Opposition
parties
and
civil
society
organizations
had
called
on
Mexicans
to
demonstrate
in the
capital
and
other
cities
against
proposed
electoral
reforms
that
would
remake
the
National
Electoral
Institute,
one of
the
country’s
most
prized
and
trusted
institutions.
López
Obrador
sees the
institute
as
beholden
to the
elite,
but
critics
say his
reforms
would
threaten
its
independence
and make
it more
political.
The
initiative
includes
eliminating
state-level
electoral
offices,
cutting
public
financing
of
political
parties
and
allowing
the
public
to elect
members
of the
electoral
authority
rather
than the
lower
chamber
of
Congress.
It would
also
reduce
the
number
of
legislators
in the
lower
chamber
of
Congress
from 500
to 300
and
senators
from 128
to 96 by
eliminating
at-large
lawmakers.
Those
are not
directly
elected
by
voters,
but
appear
on party
lists
and get
seats
based on
their
party’s
proportion
of the
vote.
The
proposal
is
expected
to be
discussed
in
Mexico’s
Congress
in
coming
weeks,
where
the
president’s
Morena
party
and
allies
hold an
advantage.
“I’m
already
fed up
with
Andrés
Manuel,
with so
many
lies, so
much
crime,”
said
Alejandra
Galán, a
45-year-old
manager,
as she
raised a
Mexican
flag in
the
middle
of the
multitude.
“He
wants to
take the
(electoral
institute)
from us
so that
eventually
it’s
like
Venezuela,
Cuba,
but
we’re
not
going to
let
him.”
Jorge
González
said
such
comparisons
to
authoritarian
regimes
may seem
exaggerated
at this
point,
but “I
think
it’s
only a
step
away. We
have to
have a
clear
separation
of
powers,
independent
institutions
and
especially
the
National
Electoral
Institute.”
The
49-year-old,
who
works in
the
finance
sector,
noted
the
seven
decades
of
uninterrupted
rule by
the
Institutional
Revolutionary
Party,
which
was
finally
ousted
in 2000.
“The
fear is
not
having
an
independent
civic
institution,
where we
can
really
trust in
the
elections
and
(instead)
going
back to
a way
with an
institute
where
it’s run
by a
single
party.”
Fernando
Belaunzarán,
one of
the
promoters
of the
protest,
said
200,000
people
participated
in the
march.
Authorities
did not
confirm
this
figure.
López
Obrador
has
spent
decades
battling
electoral
authorities.
He
considers
himself
a victim
of
electoral
fraud on
multiple
occasions,
though
it was
the
National
Electoral
Institute
that
confirmed
his
landslide
presidential
victory
in 2018.
Organizers
have
said the
march is
not
against
López
Obrador,
but to
draw
attention
to the
proposal
and to
urge
lawmakers
to vote
against
it.
López
Obrador’s
party
does not
have
enough
votes to
pass the
constitutional
reform
without
support
from the
opposition.
Last
week,
López
Obrador
dedicated
a good
part of
his
daily
morning
press
conferences
to
dismissing
the
promoters
of the
demonstration,
calling
them
“cretins”
and
“corrupt,”
aiming
to trick
the
people.
He
defended
the
proposal
as
seeking
to
reduce
the
electoral
authority’s
budget
and
avoiding
“electoral
fraud.”
While
agreeing
that
some
cost
savings
could be
desirable,
some
analysts
worry
eliminating
the
state
electoral
offices
would
concentrate
power
too much
at the
federal
level
and
sacrifice
efficiency.
Selecting
members
of the
Electoral
Court
and
leadership
of the
institute
by
popular
vote
would
give the
parties
more
power to
pick
candidates.
The
proposal
would
also
reduce
members
of the
institute’s
council
from 11
to
seven.
Patricio
Morelos
of
Monterrey
Technological
University
pointed
out that
with
López
Obrador
enjoying
high
popularity
and his
party
controlling
the
majority
of
Mexico’s
32 state
governments,
they
would
have an
advantage
if the
electoral
authority
is
remade
and
would
likely
exert
control.
Protester
Giovanni
Rodrigo,
a
44-year-old
salaried
worker,
said
López
Obrador
does not
want to
let go
of
power,
if it’s
not
himself
in the
presidency,
he wants
to
decide
who.
“I
believe
without
a doubt
he is
the best
politician
that
exists
today in
modern
history
and
that’s
why he
is the
owner of
a party”
that
controls
the
majority
of
Mexican
states,
he said.
“It
hasn’t
been
enough.
He wants
more and
more.”
__
AP
writer
Mark
Stevenson
contributed
to this
report.
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