Mexico: Sheinbaum promotes the Presidential Commission for Electoral Reform

The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, announced on Saturday the creation of the Presidential Commission for Electoral Reform, a body in charge of diagnosing the current state of the electoral and party system, and proposing a legislative reform to strengthen democracy in the country.

The commission will be headed by Pablo Gómez Álvarez, who until today served as head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit.

According to the official communication, the commission's main objectives are to make an exhaustive analysis of the Mexican electoral model and to prepare a legislative proposal that responds to the current demands of society, placing "democracy and the people at the center." Among its specific tasks will be to evaluate popular representation, citizen participation mechanisms and other key elements to modernize the electoral system.

Sheinbaum detailed that in the next few days the complete list of members of the commission, which will include legislators, academics, experts, representatives of social organizations and citizens, will be announced. The creation of this commission responds to the priorities of the Mexican President, who has repeatedly expressed her interest in optimizing the electoral system.

The commission's proposals

Among the proposals that could be addressed are the reduction of financing to political parties, the reorganization of plurinominal legislators and the possibility of having councilors of the Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE) elected by citizen vote, following the model recently applied for judges and magistrates.

Following in the footsteps of Andrés Manuel López Obrador

These ideas, which take up elements of the "Plan A" and "Plan B" reforms of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, have generated criticism, with the opposition warning of possible risks to the autonomy of INE and political representativeness.

For his part, the coordinator of Morena in the Chamber of Deputies, Ricardo Monreal Ávila, indicated that the legislative discussion of the reform will begin on September 1, with the start of the new session.