Mexican Court Strikes Down President’s Bid to Remake Election Laws Emiliano Rodríguez Mega - The New York Times
go to original June 30, 2023

Update: Mexico’s Old Ruling Party Fractures Following Election Loss (Associated Press)

Mexico’s highest court has struck down a key piece of a sweeping electoral bill backed by the president that would have undermined the agency that oversees the country’s vote, and that helped shift the nation away from single-party rule.

The ruling by the Supreme Court is a major blow to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has argued that the plan would make elections more efficient, save millions of dollars and allow Mexicans living abroad to vote online.

The election measures were passed early this year by Congress, which is controlled by the president’s party, and would have applied to next year’s presidential race. Though Mr. López Obrador is barred from seeking re-election, his party’s chosen candidate will most likely be a heavy favorite.

The bill would have slashed the National Electoral Institute’s work force, reduced its autonomy and curbed its power to punish politicians for violating election laws. Civil liberty groups said the measures would have hobbled a key pillar of Mexican democracy.

“What it sought was to transform the entire electoral system,” said Ernesto Guerra, a political analyst based in Mexico City. “It was a 180-degree turn to the rules of the democratic game.”

However relieved some Mexicans were by the ruling, some also worried that Mr. López Obrador might try to turn the legal setback to his advantage and rally his base around the idea that the judiciary is corrupt. During a morning address Thursday in which he anticipated the ruling, he lit into the court.

“It is an invasion, an intrusion,” Mr. López Obrador said.

He said he would present an initiative “in due time” to have members of the judiciary elected just like the president or senators. “It should be the people who elect them,” he said. “They should not represent an elite.”

The court last month had invalidated another part of the bill that, among other things, involved changes to publicity rules in electoral campaigns.

Read the rest at The New York Times

Related: Mexico’s Sheinbaum Advances in Race for Ruling Party Presidential Ticket, Polls Show (Reuters)

Related: Pemex Is the Elephant in Mexico’s Voting Booth (Bloomberg)

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