tense Mexico

Mexico lives days of strong political confrontation.

With less than 15 months to go before the presidential elections, the level of dialectical tension and institutional clash has risen like never before in the term of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

This tension has different causes, and among them it is evident that both the pre-election climate and the strong wear of the traditional political class appear.

Melee attacks and verbal barrages have become common practice and have also recently crystallized in large popular mobilizations.

The recent manifestations of the opposite sign, and beyond the traditional ideological positions found, today have a specific origin.

In the first place, the reform of the National Electoral Institute (INE), known as the Government's "plan b", which, in the name of austerity, cuts resources to the organization that guarantees the elections (something especially sensitive in Mexico) and leaves more freedom to party campaigns.

According to the same body, the application of the measure would mean the dismissal of some 6,000 civil servants (almost a third of its employees).

The second focus of the current conflict is the clash between López Obrador and the Supreme Court of Justice, where the fate of the aforementioned reform will ultimately be settled.

For now, the INE has asked the court to suspend the effects of the plan.

These tensions have encouraged catastrophic speeches about the end of democracy among critics of López Obrador.

The paradox of this climate of confrontation is that Mexico, compared to other countries in the area, shows acceptable economic stability and even greater electoral predictability.

The polls indicate that, today, Claudia Sheinbaum, the current head of government of Mexico City and very close to López Obrador, has all the cards to succeed him as president.

These elements, in other circumstances, should have led to a smoother political flow.

That this has not happened is due, in part, to a headless and extremely weakened opposition, which has fallen into the diabolical game of systematic confrontation instead of structuring its own story that opens the doors of alternation.

On the other side stands the hyper-leadership of the president.

After more than four years of practice, López Obrador has a much greater acceptance than his predecessors and one of the largest in Latin America.

A permanent and daily activist for his causes, he has launched harsh attacks against institutions such as the INE itself, other autonomous organizations and the Supreme Court, which he sees as populated by opponents of his political project.

"As soon as it arrived, a wave of resolutions in favor of alleged criminals was unleashed," he recently stated in reference to his recently released president.

These are large-calibre words that do little to help calm an already troubled river in a country that suffers the wounds of insecurity like few others.

It is difficult for the waters to return to their course in a year in which the crucial elections to the State of Mexico will be held.

Apart from the immediate legitimate interests of the parties, the main leaders should be held accountable so that the sense of State and the conviction that the common good is built from trust and negotiation rather than from confrontation prevail.