After two defections by opposition senators, Mexico’s ruling party said it was closing in on a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress. File | Photo credit: AP
Mexico’s ruling party said on Wednesday (August 28, 2024) it was closing in on a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress, after two opposition senators defected.
The ruling Morena party President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador It said it had won two senators from the now-defunct Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD. The PRD disappeared as a national party after failing to win the minimum 3% of the vote in the June 2 elections.
After obtaining a two-thirds majority in the lower house, the Morena party and its allies are now one vote away from a similar majority in the Senate. This majority would allow them to obtain a majority in the Senate. Morena to push controversial changes to constitution,
The changes include a proposal to force all judges to run for office, a move critics say would further concentrate power in the presidency, erode the judiciary’s independence and open it to the influence of those who provide cash to finance campaigns. The U.S. ambassador to Mexico publicly expressed similar concerns last week.
After days of speculation, newly elected President Claudia Sheinbaum, a member of López Obrador’s party, said on Wednesday (August 28) that two opposition senators had decided to join the ruling party in the Senate.
Both senators, Araceli Saucedo and José Sabino, were immediately called traitors by their former colleagues and opposition party members.
“History will judge them as traitors who participated in the assault on democracy,” former opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Gálvez wrote on her social media account.
Social media users also posted election videos of the two, in which they promised not to change parties before the June 2 elections.
“Like you, I’m tired of the same old grasshopper politicians (who keep jumping from one party to the other),” Senator Sabino said in the video. “You have to make your point.”
While some had hoped Sheinbaum would be more open to consensus and negotiation than her predecessor and political mentor López Obrador — who leaves office on Sept. 30 — there was even more disappointing news.
Sheinbaum’s party has named Senator Gerardo Fernández Nornana, known for his taunting, profanity-laced speeches and his consistent refusal to wear a face mask in meetings, even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as Senate leader.
Since the party with the most seats also gets to name the leader of the lower house, Congress will be led by Rep. Adán Augusto López, an old-style political promoter whose style is reminiscent of the regional political bosses of the 1940s and 50s.
Following a final appeal this week, electoral court judges signed off on the ruling party’s two-thirds majority in the lower house, and there are now no obstacles to about 20 constitutional changes the Morena party wants to implement.
MORENA will likely succeed in winning over another senator from a smaller party. Constitutional changes also require the approval of two-thirds of state legislatures, and MORENA and his allies control about two dozen of Mexico’s 32 states.
U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar said last week that the proposed judicial changes pose a “risk” to Mexico’s democracy and “threaten the historic commercial ties” between Mexico and the United States.
Mr. Salazar said the proposed reform would “enable cartels and other bad actors with political motivations to take advantage of inexperienced judges,” and would “cause turmoil” both economically and politically for years to come.
That prompted outrage from the outgoing president, who said this week that he had “suspended” relations with the U.S. embassy following the ambassador’s remarks.