The electoral initiative of Andrés Manuel López Obrador goes because it goes.
That is the message that Morena, the party of the president of Mexico, has sent this Tuesday in the Chamber of Deputies.
After weeks of deadlock, the ruling bloc and its allies have imposed their majority to hold two voting sessions in the San Lázaro legislative compound.
The first has been to decide the future of the constitutional reform that the president has proposed, an amendment doomed to failure by failing to achieve the necessary consensus of two-thirds of legislators to move forward.
The second was scheduled to vote on the so-called "plan B" of the Executive:
resign themselves to not approving the reform and focus on giving the green light to changes in the secondary laws to compact the structure of the National Electoral Institute and take away its powers when sanctioning political parties.
In this scenario and despite the claims of the opposition, the Morenista bench gave priority to that battle and opened a fast track or
fast track
to be brought to the plenary just hours after being presented, confident that it only needs a simple majority to get ahead.
López Obrador had announced since Monday that he had the draft initiative for "plan B" ready.
"It's normal, those of the PRI and those of the PAN are not going to vote for the constitutional reform that we have proposed," the president acknowledged in his morning conference.
Adán Augusto López, Secretary of the Interior and the president's main political operator, delivered the legislative package to the Lower House this Tuesday.
The alternative plan is a direct response to the shipwreck forced by the opposition bloc, which came together to contain the president's constitutional initiative.
The second attempt is outlined in a document of more than 300 pages, scheduled to be voted on in a marathon session that will last Tuesday night and probably early Wednesday morning.
“Limits are established for the arbitrary actions of both the INE and the TEPJF [the Electoral Tribunal] regarding interpretations unrelated to the law that have limited freedom of expression, political-electoral rights, the self-determination of political parties, among others” , reads the objectives of the López Obrador initiative to which EL PAÍS has had access.
The last adjustments to the presidential project were made during a tour last weekend through the State of Campeche, at the same time that the INE imposed precautionary measures on the head of Government of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum,
before a complaint for anticipated campaign acts.
"Plan B or plan V, for revenge?" Questioned the electoral adviser, Ciro Murayama, on his social networks.
Jorge Romero, deputy and coordinator of the PAN, speaks out against the reform. Mario Jasso (Cuartoscuro)
Another of the proposals is to have more specific definitions on electoral crimes, specifically on the delivery of gifts or money to condition the vote of citizens.
It is proposed to unify the Preliminary Electoral Results Program, from which the trends of the voting results were obtained, with the calculation of the election that will be presented in real time.
The calendar of the elections is also modified to compact processes and reduce expenses.
Morena insists that the INE is onerous and seeks to reduce its "bureaucratic apparatus", force the electoral referee to eliminate two trusts to withhold public resources and eliminate the administrative branch of his professional career service.
On this last point, Murayama replied that such an administrative branch does not exist.
The consensus that was just beginning to be built between the political forces was blown up.
The opposition said it was open to a reform, but there were no agreements on how it should be done.
The deputies of Morena once again branded their political rivals as "traitors of the Homeland" and condemned them to the "trial of history."
The members of the parliamentary group of the National Action Party (PAN) also said that it was a "historic day", but because for the first time a formation sought to win through "trap".
The level of the legislative debate had at times tinges of embarrassment in San Lázaro.
"Mexico will not be Venezuela, Mexico will not be Cuba," shouted PAN legislator Paulina Rubio Fernández in her speech.
Lorena Piñón, PRI deputy, compared Morena's strategy with Gerardo Tata
's tactical approach
Martino in the World Cup.
The Morenista Marcos Medina called his adversaries “corrupt”, a “parasitic” bureaucracy to the INE and accused former President Carlos Salinas, who applied for Spanish nationality, of preferring to be “subject of a decadent monarchy”.
"Hypocrites," added Sergio Gutiérrez Luna, his party partner.
“Traitors, they have lied to the people”, Karla María Rabelo, also from Morena.
"Demagogues", "tyrants" and "applauders", retorted Elizabeth Pérez, of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).
They also paraded banners, t-shirts with slogans and battle cries in a double bill where spirits were heated.
#ÚltimaHora 269 votes in favor, 225 against and 1 abstention.
The opinion that reforms various provisions of the Constitution, in electoral matters, does not reach a qualified majority.
The project is discarded.
pic.twitter.com/JEVRaQpgVy
– Chamber of Deputies (@Mx_Diputados) December 7, 2022
The balance of the vote on the constitutional reform was 269 votes in favor, 225 against and one abstention, without sufficient support for it to be approved.
The PAN, PRI, PRD and Movimiento Ciudadano opposed it.
Morena, the Green Party and the Labor Party closed ranks around the president and gave the green light to "plan B".
If there are no surprises, those votes are enough for changes in secondary laws.
The expected result is a victory for each side in two parliamentary sessions.
Above all, a pyrrhic triumph is shaping up for López Obrador, who raised the electoral reform to the top of his list of priorities in the legislative field and had to settle for changes in secondary laws approved at the edge of the regular session , which ends on December 15.
The amendment still has to be endorsed in the Senate.
The backdrop continues to be three key appointments at the polls: the state elections in Coahuila and the State of Mexico in June 2023, and the presidential race in July 2024. Next April, four of the eleven INE councilors will be renewed. , the process starts in a week.
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