Tens of thousands of people gathered in Mexico City’s vast main plaza on Sunday to protest President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s electoral law changes, which they say threaten democracy.
They could mark a return to the past. The plaza normally holds nearly 100,000 people, couldn’t accommodate all the protesters, and many spilt onto nearby streets.
The marchers, mostly clad in white and pink, shouted slogans like “Don’t Touch my Vote!” and appeared somewhat more affluent than those at the average demonstration.
The electoral law changes drew the attention of the U.S. government. Brian A. Nichols, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western hemisphere affairs, wrote in his Twitter account, “Today, in Mexico, we see a great debate on electoral reforms that are testing the independence of electoral and judicial institutions.”
López Obrador’s proposals were passed last week. Once enacted, they would cut salaries, funding for local election offices and training for citizens who operate and oversee polling stations.
They would also reduce sanctions for candidates who fail to report campaign spending.
Mexico’s president denies the reforms threaten democracy and says the criticism is elitist, arguing the institute spends too much money. He says the funds should be spent on the poor. However, protester Enrique Bastien, a 64-year-old veterinarian, said that with the reforms López Obrador “wants to return to the past” when “the government-controlled elections.”
Fernando Gutierrez, 55, a small businessman, said López Obrador wanted to lead Mexico to a socialist government. “That’s obvious, from the aid going to Cuba,” Gutierrez said. López Obrador has imported coronavirus vaccines, medical workers and stone railway ballast from Cuba but has little taste for socialist policies at home.
Many other demonstrators were wary of vote miscounting, campaign overspending and electoral pressure tactics common in Mexico before the independent electoral agency was created in the 1990s.
López Obrador said Thursday he’ll sign the changes into law, even though he expects court challenges.
Many at Sunday’s protest expressed hope that Mexico’s Supreme Court would overturn some changes, as courts have done with other presidential initiatives.
The president’s strident pushback against the judiciary and regulatory and oversight agencies has raised fears among some that he is seeking to reinstitute the practices of the old PRI, which bent the rules to retain Mexico’s presidency for 70 years until its defeat in the 2000 elections.
Elections in Mexico are expensive by international standards, in part because almost all legal campaign financing is, by law, supplied by the government.
The electoral institute also issues the secure voter ID cards that are the most commonly accepted form of identification in Mexico and oversees balloting in the remote and often dangerous corners of the country.
López Obrador remains highly popular in Mexico, with approval ratings of around 60%. While he cannot run for reelection, his Morena party is favoured in next year’s national elections, and the opposition is in disarray.
Part of his popular appeal comes from railing against high-paid government bureaucrats, and he has been angered by the fact that some top electoral officials are paid more than the president.
»Mexicans protest against President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s electoral law changes«
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