The Mandate Revocation consultation did not strengthen democracy, due to the low citizen participation it registered, since it was not clear why the President of the Republic, with more than 60% approval, promoted a recall referendum that was used to revile to the National Electoral Institute (INE), established the Delian Project Mission Report on the process.
“If there was really seriousness, it would have been thought that the necessary financing would have been given (to the INE) to guarantee that it would be administered as established by any other process,” said political scientist Armand Peschard-Sverdrup during the presentation.
The report highlighted that the April 10 consultation was carried out under certain characteristics: a popular president; a very tense and polarized political environment; and political attacks aimed at discrediting the INE.
He mentioned that the exercise injected an element of uncertainty into the political landscape, because “the revocation of the mandate has introduced an element of confusion among Mexicans, which leads to speculation about the reasons for this consultation.”
Recalling that of the 92.8 million registered voters in Mexico, only 16.5 million participated, he said that “it was far from being a sign of participatory democracy.”
Highlighting that the INE and the Electoral Court of the Federal Judicial Power issued 28 and 33 resolutions for illegal actions by political actors and officials, the report condemned the attacks against the INE and its advisers by Morena officials and politicians throughout the process.
Amendment Risks
Regarding the intention of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to send an initiative to Congress to remove councilors and magistrates, the Delian Project Mission Report warned that the presentation of candidacies for councilors and the presidency of the INE would result in politicizing its leadership.
“When such institutions and their leaders are the focus of relentless criticism from the Presidency and other high-level political leaders, there is an erosion of citizen trust. (…) It is by keeping the INE as an autonomous electoral management body, and not by politicizing it, that Mexicans can achieve the democracy they want for themselves,” he detailed.