▲ Directors of Pilgrim’s México and the Secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard (right), with the president.Photo Presidency
Alma E. Muñoz and Alonso Urrutia
La Jornada Newspaper
Friday, January 16, 2026, p. 5
With the electoral reform, the representation of minorities will be guaranteed; reduction of expenses in the elections, including political parties, and the autonomy of the National Electoral Institute (INE) will be maintained, announced President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, noting that they continue working on the proposal, which will be ready at the beginning of February.
Yesterday morning, he stated that multi-member candidacies must be chosen differently, so that it is not the leadership that decides, but the population, as well as strengthening the participatory democracy regime, while rejecting accusations of authoritarianism.
He stated that he is seeking an amendment by consensus, but that the dialogue with the coordinators of the allied parties, PT and Verde, is with the Ministry of the Interior and with the Presidential Commission for Electoral Reform.
He stated that he does not plan to meet with the opposition and disqualified the proposals of Claudio X. González and Lorenzo Córdova, the latter former president of the INE. “Pretty bad” the first and “not so good” the second, he considered.
Meanwhile, although he is still reading the INE’s one, “because it is very long,” he maintained that “they have something interesting: they proposed to Pablo (Gómez, president of the Presidential Commission) that the election of judges be held in 2028 – not 2027 -; then, it must be considered in accordance with the arguments presented.”
A day after the conclusions of the forums were delivered to her, the president said that the reform will not disappear “things that have worked in Mexico, but it is intended to strengthen democracy and the control of resources.”
That there be “a reduction in expenses in general: to the parties, to the INE, to the Oples (Local Electoral Public Bodies), he stressed at the National Palace.
“Elections in Mexico are among the most expensive in the world, and we must all agree that they should not be,” for the good of the country and the people. “That these resources be used for other things, without affecting the operation of the autonomous institutions.”
There are many resources, he insisted. “I still don’t know if they earn less than the President or more,” he added regarding electoral advisors.
He maintained that they will strengthen public consultations, even holding them every year, in addition to allowing Mexicans abroad to elect their representatives, not the parties.
He affirmed that they will also regulate the number of councilors, but did not want to advance anything regarding the removal of immunity. “It is a proposal that everyone will like… and there will be no arguments to say that it is authoritarian, because we do not agree with it,” he noted.
He rejected that the opposition, even “the international right,” affirms that there is no democracy in Mexico and that it is heading towards an authoritarian regime. “False, there is electoral and participatory democracy, absolute freedoms, respect for human rights. It is a democratic country.”
He commented that they continue to “answer some questions that will allow us to make an acceptable amendment, that will resolve all these problems that people don’t think about.”
