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reform in electoral matters that the head of the federal Executive Branch will present in January of next year is the most important political process of the regime inaugurated in 2018. It is more important than the recent vote that reformed the Judiciary, since for future elections it is expected that the freedom of voting and the meaning that the popular will gives to it will be guaranteed by the three powers of the State.
Without entering into a discussion with the multiple reforms and historical changes to the electoral regulations legislation, let us just remember that from 1918 to 2014 the majority of the electoral laws and the legal changes applied were aimed at refining a large number of rules so that parties and candidates could access power without major setbacks for the regime in power, especially after the 1946 reform. Electoral rules constructed in a way that almost always went through above real party oppositions and citizen will.
Thus, until today, when the current group in power – which has governed and exercised power in a very novel way for seven years – has recognized that Mexican electoral legislation is full of a series of techniques and procedures that condition a system of competition and representation that is no longer congruent with the current political situation of the country. That is, it is necessary to build a new type of government power. A new political system with the participation of all those who desire and have a democratic interest. Perhaps that is why there is great attention, as demonstrated by the multiple proposals in the forums convened by the Presidential Commission for Electoral Reform.
Three features stand out in this stage of construction of a reform that encourage participation: 1) it is not a finished offer: it will be prepared from the multiple proposals that are already made in the forums and will conclude with a document that, obviously, will include the critical suggestions of advisors and magistrates of the electoral organizations, the parties, the members of the Legislative Branch and the experts on the subject, 2) for this reason it is not a proposal negotiated between the majority party and some other political institute or opposition party leadership and 3) a great change with respect to past decades is that the electoral issue is no longer the preferred toy of the regime in the formation of the political will of the people. Your political education must be free of all government pressure.
The big difference with other times is that the aim is to enter political modernity and overcome the fraudulent, conservative and wasteful past of the elections. This implies making a series of decisions that go beyond the simple technical or administrative proposal of adjusting everything only for the benefit of the regime through electoral regulations.
In the process of constructing the current reform, some processes with an impact on the exercise of power should be reviewed. Respect for freedom and popular will can be guaranteed through a series of changes in the role of citizens, political parties and rulers.
We must insist: political modernity implies citizen participation in popular consultation exercises on electoral issues. The reform of article 35 of the Constitution is necessary to eliminate the restriction on society participating in this issue; involve citizens to express their feelings about the immunity of officials elected by vote. It is necessary to discuss its disappearance, because rather than guaranteeing the free function of legislators, it has become a personal privilege to evade many illegalities.
Scrutiny models have never been neutral in the world. Mexico has known different models since the rulers are directly elected, but it is necessary to note that throughout history the majority model and proportional representation have been modified only at the convenience of the regime and the party elites.
If the majority of the population thinks that proportional representation legislators should be reduced, disappear or maintained as an option to integrate the General Congress, there is nothing like reforming article 52 of the Constitution and the applicable law after being guided by citizen opinion obtained through a popular consultation.
*Title researcher at IISUNAM
