The Supreme Court of Mexico suspends the electoral reform of López Obrador before "the possible violation of political rights"

A minister of the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN), Javier Laynez, ruled the indefinite suspension of the so-called Plan B of electoral reforms of the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, as a result of the demand of the National Electoral Institute (INE).

The legislative initiative, approved by Congress in February, was promoted in December by López Obrador (nicknamed AMLO) after he did not obtain enough votes for a constitutional reform that implied deeper changes, such as the creation of the National Institute of Elections and Consultations for replace the INE.

With the reforms of various electoral laws, the INE is limited politically and economically and its structures are compacted, as well as some functions of the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary.

The project eliminates duplication of functions of the administrative areas of the INE and reduces its 300 district offices to 264.

According to the INE, these modifications "create conditions that undermine the autonomy of the Institute and its ability to perform the functions mandated by the Constitution, at the same time that it unbalances the social communication model and harms equity in the contest."

AMLO's electoral reform "mutilates" the INE.

For its president "it is very difficult to understand"

March 13, 202303:07

The investigating minister of the case in the Supreme Court of Justice granted on Friday the suspension requested by the INE "of all the contested articles of the decree so that things remain in the state in which they are today and govern the provisions in force before the respective reform," according to what he pointed out.

[Eight senior officials from the body that oversees the elections in Mexico resign, after the AMLO reform came into force]

"The decree not only contains general regulations, but also specific acts of application, on which the suspension is generally granted," added the court, which justified that there are precedents for suspensions of laws due to the possibility of "irreparably violating human rights".

"In the case at hand, it deals with the possible violation of the political-electoral rights of citizens," the court said.

AMLO attacks the protests for the electoral reform: "They don't care about democracy"

Feb 27, 202301:09

"The reform is in a coma, it is suspended and does not apply until the court decides the merits of the matter," said Ciro Murayama, an INE adviser, in an interview with journalist Ciro Gómez Leyva.

With this suspension, the departure of the executive secretary of the INE is stopped, the massive dismissal of 80% of the electoral career personnel in the organization, a cut in its budget, the elimination of its state and local organizations and the extinction of two trusts.

Protests, disputes and resignations

López Obrador affirms that the plan does not threaten Mexican democracy despite alerts from experts in Mexico and abroad.

On February 26, hundreds of thousands of Mexicans marched in more than 100 cities to demonstrate their disagreement with the reform, in the most massive protest against an initiative by the president, who accused the opposition of "misleading, manipulating a lot of people."

Ned Price, a State Department spokesman, issued a statement on February 27 in which he stated that "a great debate on electoral reforms, on the independence of electoral and judicial institutions" was taking place in Mexico.

He said the US respects Mexico's sovereignty, adding: "We believe that an independent and well-resourced electoral system and respect for judicial independence underpin a healthy democracy."

AMLO replied that the US "does not abandon the policy of two centuries ago, the policy of Monroe, of feeling like the government of the world."

"As is the bad habit," he said, referring to the State Department, "they always meddle in matters that do not correspond to them, very contrary to what Biden thinks, who always speaks on an equal footing."

With information from EFE,