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Photo: Gustavo Graf Maldonado / REUTERS
The Zócalo is the central square in the heart of Mexico City - and usually the place for beautiful celebrations.
On Sunday, however, tens of thousands of people thronged the Zócalo to demonstrate against an electoral reform initiated by left-wing populist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Dressed in white and pink, they protested under the motto »Mi voto no se toca« (My voice will not be touched).
The colors stand for the Mexican electoral authority Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE).
Obrador plans to drastically reduce its influence as an independent institute.
In addition to the capital, people also took to the streets in other cities in Latin America's second largest economy in favor of the electoral institute, as the newspaper "Milenio" reported.
Drastic budget cut
On Thursday night (local time), the Senate passed the reform that is intended to drastically reduce the size of the electoral authority and cut its budget.
The President's final approval is considered a formality.
According to the INE, numerous regional offices for the preparation, organization and conduct of the elections are to be abolished.
According to the opposition, this would jeopardize the organization of free elections in Mexico.
The electoral authorities themselves and the opposition announced that they would have the constitutionality of the new regulations examined by the Supreme Court.
The INE organizes all national elections in Mexico, which was ruled for seven decades from 1929 to 2000 by the left-wing "Party of the Institutional Revolution".
The authority was set up in 1990 – under a different name at the time – to prevent voter fraud.
However, López Obrador accuses her of acting undemocratically and wasting money.
In his four years as head of state and government, the left-wing nationalist has repeatedly been accused of having autocratic tendencies.
mrc/dpa