Although they do not recognize it, Morena has gradually become a state party, as was the PRI in its best moments. Lopez Obrador knows that his government and his 4T have already failed, so he is going to do everything to turn Morena into a state party that will remain in power for several six-year terms.
Until 1988, the elections were totally controlled by the PRI-government, which, in addition to controlling the electoral apparatus, gave support to its candidates to sweep the elections.
When I was a PRI candidate for federal deputy in 1988, with the support of the government I opened 15 dairies, handed out supply cards and resolved most of the citizens’ demands.
In the electoral part, it was up to the party to appoint, among the sectional leaders, all the officials of the polls, who at the time of the election, became representatives of Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas. The PRI also controlled voter credentials and had a reserve of 10,000 for any emergency, which I decided to destroy.
The sectionals of the party were the ones that raised the citizen demand and this was resolved through them and in this way the strength and presence of the PRI was consolidated. Party and government were one piece and defeating them was practically impossible, since fraud was resorted to if necessary, as happened in the 1988 presidential election.
The party-government could be defeated because political and citizen pressure forced, after 1988, an electoral reform that gave autonomy to the electoral bodies and the parties the possibility of competing. Sometimes it is forgotten that thanks to the electoral changes, the opposition parties had resources and spaces in the media to be able to compete with the party-government and control of the elections was taken away from it.
In a superficial analysis, the electoral reform proposed by Lopez Obrador is undoubtedly very attractive, but if approved, it would consolidate Morena as a new state party. In the survey of the newspaper El Financiero yesterday, 82% of those surveyed support reducing the number of senators and deputies, 71% that the citizens elect the electoral authorities, 68% eliminate public financing of political parties and 68% eliminate the federal deputies of relative majority.
If López Obrador’s proposal is approved, the result would be to weaken the plurality that has avoided political violence, turn the electoral authorities into representatives of the majority party and weaken the opposition parties and political competition, since Morena, as a party- government would have its support to finance itself and be the only interlocutor and manager before the citizens.
The alternation was possible in the year 2000 thanks to the successive electoral reforms from 1988, approving the reform proposed by López Obrador would be to return to the state party that existed for more than 70 years.
The reform is not going to happen because the government and Morena do not have a qualified majority, but it is urgent to launch a campaign to explain López Obrador’s true intentions and not only win the vote in Congress, but also reverse the opinion of the public.
Twitter: @vidallerenas
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A graduate in Economics from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM), he has a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Management from the University of Essex, United Kingdom, and a Ph.D. in Public Administration and Management from the University of York.