The reform proposed by President López Obrador to reform the INE is supported by the majority.
93% of those surveyed are in favor of reducing the public budget granted to political parties; 87% of Mexicans agree with reducing the number of multi-member legislators and 74% agree with allocating less money to the INE. Also, eight out of 10 Mexicans support that the electoral advisers and magistrates be elected by direct vote of the citizens.
According to Morena, this survey was “hidden” by the president of the INE, Lorenzo Córdova, for a couple of weeks.
The president of that party mocked the results: “The INE was shot in the butt and in its own poll the people approve of the electoral reform initiative proposed by our president,” he wrote on his Twitter account.
Although the overwhelming majority agrees with changes in the way the INE is managed, this does not mean that people are against the institute. 68% of those surveyed approve of the work he does. Only 14% ask that it be completely removed.
A multiple debate
Already we had addressed in this space how the Electoral Reform proposed by the Executive will be a tool of polarization, which could be useful to the image of the president and his party. Being a theme rooted in collective thought, it clearly becomes a popular and electoral flag heading to 2024.
The expert José Woldenberg, former president of the then Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), warns that approving the President’s Electoral Reform would mean a setback for the 50-year-old Mexican democracy. “What I would like is for this initiative not to pass, because much of what was built in decades in Mexico would be being destroyed, and it would be being destroyed not to improve but to carry out something factious,” he said.
Woldenberg joins the list of personalities who strongly criticize the reform, including Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, Vicente Fox, Porfirio Muñoz Ledo (who called for the creation of a Democratic Front against the electoral reform); wow, even the Catholic Church and business chambers.
The debate will be extensive and we will all be participating -or so it should be-, for the duration of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
Little by little, it causes people to immerse themselves much more in the subject, to know the pros and cons, according to what we believe is best for the country’s democracy. But also what we have experienced as a society. Here the voice of everyone is important, regardless of age, economic position, religion, preferences, parties or any other division present.
The fact that there are movements such as “I defend the INE” are positive, since they actively participate in a real concern that we will not return to the times when the party in power managed the elections as it pleased. Or the fact that the councilors or electoral tribunals are politicized, since autonomy could be ripped away from an institute created by citizens, which has cost blood and freedoms.
