Protest In Mexico Against President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Electoral Reform Plans

Tens of thousands took to the streets in Mexico’s capital Sunday to protest President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s plan to overhaul the nation’s electoral authority. The demonstration was said to be the biggest against one of the president’s actions during his four years in office. The turnout was a message of rebuke against the president’s assertion that criticism only comes from a small minority consisting of the country’s elite opposition.

The Mexican people were called upon by opposition parties and civil society organizations to protest in the capital as well as other cities against the proposed electoral reforms that would supposedly reshape the country’s most trusted organization, the National Electoral Institute (INE).

According to Reuters, López Obrador views the institute as a lapdog of the elite, however many critics said his plans to reform it could potentially damage its independence and make it more political. The proposal included the elimination of the state-level electoral offices, severance of public financing of political parties, and permitting the general public to elect members of the electoral authority instead of the lower chamber of Congress.

The plan would also see an elimination of at-large lawmakers by cutting the number of legislators in the lower chambers from 500 to 300 as well as the senate, from 128 to 96. Those would not be elected by voters, but would rather appear on party lists and would get seats based on their party's proportioned vote. The proposal is set to be discussed in Mexico’s Congress in the next few weeks, where the President’s Morena party and its allies are said to have the upper hand.

Alejandra Galán, a 45-year-old manager participating in the demonstration said she was “fed up” with the president, along with all the lies and crimes that followed. She added that the President’s plans to take the electoral institute from the people would see the country become like Cuba and Venezuela, and the people would not allow it. The slogans by the protestors read, “Hands off the INE”. And, cries of demonstrators saying they will defend the electoral institute that several generations in Mexico have built.