Demonstrations against the Federal Government’s controversial Electoral Reform Bill have broken out all over Mexico.
The proposed legislation seeks to dissolve the National Electoral Institute (INE) and create a new electoral authority, as well as cut funding and replace the 11 INE members, who are chosen by political consensus, with seven directly-elected delegates.
It is part of a broader set of proposed changes to the electoral system, including funding cuts for political parties and the elimination of proportional representation seats in Congress.
President Andrés Lopez Obrador has accused the demonstrators of being opposed to his Government, but has urged his supporters not to provoke them.
“The people should know that it is a demonstration against us because we are carrying out a policy in favour of the people,” Mr Lopez Obrador (pictured) said.
“The Opposition parties are classist, racist and undemocratic,” he said.
“They are the ones who participated in electoral fraud and would like to continue having control over the INE.”
The protest’s organisers denied the President’s statements.
“We are calling for protests exclusively in defence of the INE,” one organiser, Amado Avendaño said.
“We are not protesting against anyone.”
Opposition politicians and others have noted that the INE is essential to maintaining Mexico’s young democracy, which emerged just over two decades ago when 70 years of one-party rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) ended.
The Opposition has also maintained that dissolving or weakening the INE is non-negotiable.
Some opponents say that the proposed changes would weaken the electoral body and could help the President challenge the results should his party lose the next election, due in 2024.
Mexico City, 12 November 2022
