Andrés Manuel López Obrador wants to adapt the electoral system to the Fourth Transformation and remove public financing for ordinary activities from political parties.
Republican austerity, in electoral matters, would also be reflected in the formation of the constitutional body in charge of organizing federal elections and popular consultations and of both Chambers of the Union Congress, which would have fewer members.
Without changes, the structure of the Electoral Court, but the idea is to rebuild the national electoral mechanism, with single administrative and judicial institutions under the principle of republican austerity. And new members.
The reform initiative —sent yesterday by the federal Executive to the Chamber of Deputies— would leave the resolution of local electoral controversies in the Judicial Power of the Federation. The unification of the administrative and jurisdictional electoral authorities would be the consequence of the extinction of the OPLEs and the electoral tribunals in the 32 states.
Goodbye to the INE, a “large, bureaucratic and markedly inefficient” body. In its place, the National Institute of Elections and Consultations would be erected as the only administrative authority in electoral matters. Its plenary session would be made up of seven members who would be appointed by the secret, direct and universal vote of the citizens.
Goodbye to the OPLES, for their gigantism. Goodbye to the electoral courts, for their irrelevance. And goodbye to the plurinominal legislators. And goodbye to the 300 electoral districts.
The system of lists by federal entity would apply to elect the 96 senators and the 300 federal deputies and would force the candidates to campaign on land, to be closer to their constituents. There would be one deputy for every 420,000 inhabitants and one senator for every 1.3 million inhabitants.
The broadest plural representation in history would be possible from 2024, when local Congresses and municipal councils throughout the country would also be reduced by constitutional mandate.
The initiative —which would cover 18 constitutional articles and includes seven transitional ones— seeks to “make democracy cheaper in our country”, synthesized Horacio Duarte Olivares, who together with Pablo Gómez headed the drafting group of this “democratic reform” proposal.
“It is an old demand from the people, that they stop spending money on electoral processes and that the money that can be saved (24,000 million pesos, according to the first calculations) be allocated to social issues, infrastructure issues, of Education”.
Neither the political communication model nor the INE’s operational structure would be affected. The official times in campaigns, on the contrary, would remain at the disposal of the parties and their candidates, without the electoral authorities being able to use them. And the exceptions for government propaganda during electoral processes would be expanded.
Goodbye to the party. Goodbye to the leading role of the INE. The Fourth Transformation summoned the opposition to debate the course of the electoral system. Neither the PAN nor the PRI will accept the challenge. The INE, as we currently know it, has 12 more months of subsistence.
Then the fate of the electoral reform should already be defined and who will be the seven members of the autonomous body that will organize the election of the next president of Mexico.
Journalist
Vital signs
Journalist and columnist for El Economista, author of Doña Perpetua: Elba Esther Gordillo’s power and opulence. Elba Esther Gordillo against the SEP.