The President denies that the march on Sunday is for electoral reform

Angelica Enciso and Alonso Urrutia

Newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday November 22, 2022, p. 5

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador specified yesterday that the march next Sunday is not for electoral reform, but to strengthen the transformation movement and celebrate the achievements. He added: I don’t know where they get that there will be carried, if we have 70 percent approvaland estimated that it has the support of around 50 million citizens.

During his conference, he maintained that there will be no constitutional reform in electoral matters, but there will be a legal one, since it will be very difficult for Congress to approve the first one, although even the stones change their way of thinking.

He indicated that what matters is to reduce spending in the National Electoral Institute (INE), because the salaries of 400,000 pesos for the councilors are offensive. He also highlighted the need to eliminate vote buying, which can occur with changes in secondary laws, without reform to the Constitution.

Even without modifications, the President stressed that it is necessary to respect the law and, therefore, the current mechanism for the election of INE directors.

Regarding the support for the INE expressed by the spokesperson for the United States Department of States, Vedant Patel, López Obrador said that the government of that country is never lacking someone who wants to testify; It is part of his tradition, I would say his bad habits, interference, but nothing happens either.

He questioned that those who defend the INE “why didn’t they say ‘Pemex is not touched’, ‘public education is not touched’, ‘the benefits and wages of workers are not touched'”.

The oligarchy no longer dominates

He pointed out that in the draft of his speech on Sunday, with which the march will end, he does not speak of the electoral reform, but rather I say that the oligarchy no longer dominates, there is democracy, the government does not participate in electoral fraud. The essential It is how much of a budget we will have, 8 billion, how much it has grown, how many Mexicans does that budget reach, how many families.

He summoned all citizens who are in favor of his movement to come on Sunday. It is a march and an act for the progress that has been made. She pointed out that it will be festive, happy, with batucada and marimba, I would not say triumphant, but of satisfaction, happiness, for living these interesting times, spectacular moments in the history of Mexico, facing rancid conservatism and carrying out a transformation like Independence, the Reform, the Revolution..

Lopez Obrador added that We are uprooting the regime that is the product of injustice and privileges. We have a lot to celebrate. Most people are happy, it is not a matter of colors, it is that we are carrying out a transformation project different from the one that has been imposed in recent times.

He mentioned that conservatives “don’t like us to say ‘hugs, not bullets’, because they are very authoritarian, violent, they like wars.” He asserted that they must guarantee freedom to all, fight for peaceful means, reject violence and we have always acted in the same way. So why are you surprised that we are going to march on Sunday? I invite everyone to participate, we must be happy, we have faced difficult situations, such as the pandemic and the economic crisis.

He maintained that his government project has to do with the best of national history. “If Hidalgo lived, he would walk with us; If Morelos lived, he would walk with us; If Juárez lived, he would walk with us; If Zapata lived, he would walk with us.

Those who would not walk with us and would walk with our adversaries would be Iturbide, those who went looking for Maximiliano, Lucas Alamán, Porfirio Díaz, Huerta, Salinas de Gortarihe added.

The march will leave the Ángel de la Independencia at 9 a.m. on Sunday and he said he wants to lead it with other leaders and those who want to join us. I would like the founders to be there, who have been fighting for years to make this dream come true, and if they are grown up, due to their state of health, they will wait for us in the Zócalo.