An areal view shows people protesting against the electoral reform proposed by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) and in support of the National Electoral Institute (INE), in Monterrey, Mexico, November 13, 2022. Photo: Reuters.
On Sunday, Mexicans took to the streets across the nation to protest President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s plan to replace the National Electoral Institute (INE) with directly elected delegates. The protest culminated when José Woldenberg—former head of the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), INE’s predecessor—joined the protest and called on Mexicans not to permit “the pretension of aligning electoral bodies to the will of the government.” Lorenzo Córdova, the Executive Secretary of INE, also expressed gratitude to protestors who took to the streets “in defense of democracy.” However, on Monday, López Obrador said that the protest was not carried out by the people, but by corrupt anti-democratic politicians “in favor of racism and classism.”
INE is an autonomous constitutional body in Mexico responsible for regulating electoral processes. Created in 1990 to address electoral disputes, IFE presided over Mexico’s first transfer of power in 2000 after 71 years of Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) control. AMLO’s National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party and its allies fall short of the supermajority control in congress required to pass such constitutional reform. However, there are plans to discuss this proposal in the coming weeks. The current reform also proposes funding cuts to political parties and electoral authorities as well as a reduction in the number of legislators in both chambers of Congress.
