Mexico: AMLO's Plan B to reform electoral system goes into effect

The law will go into effect this Friday, but elections in Coahuila and the State of Mexico will be excluded.

El Plan B, la reforma de AMLO que le permite ""apropiarse"" del sistema electoral.

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2 de marzo, 2023

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This Thursday, the Official Journal of the Federation (DOF) published Andrés Manuel López Obrador's (AMLO) Plan B to reform Mexico's electoral system. The law will go into effect 24 hours later, this Friday, although it "will not apply" to the elections of Coahuila and the State of Mexico, according to the DOF.

This decree, Infobae collects, includes amendments to the General Law of Electoral Institutions and Procedures, the General Law of Political Parties, and the Organic Law of the Federal Judiciary.

However, the key aspect of Plan B is that it allows AMLO to implement the restructuring of the National Electoral Institute (NEI), which has been widely criticized for its rules of government. The regulation seeks to reduce the size, number of workers, budget, and autonomy of the NEI and will try to close several of the institution's local offices throughout the country.

AMLO decided to attack this institution because he considers it to be politicized. In addition to it being "the most expensive election organization apparatus in the world," he said that NEI "deceives" and allows "the falsification of ballots, electoral package theft, and vote buying."

The regulation also establishes that the Executive Secretary may no longer appoint members of the district and local executive boards:

Given the modification of the powers of the Executive Secretariat with the entry into force of this decree, the incumbent of said position shall cease to hold office as of the date of its publication.

Mexico protests Plan B

The opposition doesn't agree. AMLO's critics claim that Plan B directly undermines democracy and questions the transparency of the 2024 presidential elections.

The opposition was not the only one to speak out against Mexico's president. More than 500,000 people gathered last Monday in Mexico City's Zócalo square to protest Andrés Manuel López Obrador's electoral reform.