Between 10,000 and 12,000 people have come out this Sunday to demonstrate in defense of the National Electoral Institute (INE), the objective of a reform promoted by the Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, according to the balance of participation published by the Secretary of Government of the City from Mexico, Marti Batres.
The final manifesto of the march was read by the head of the defunct Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), predecessor of the INE, Jose Woldenberg, who stated that Mexico does not deserve an electoral reform “driven by a single will”, for what it has done a call to say “no” to the “destruction” of the INE and to “authoritarianism”.
Thus, it has summoned the political parties “to defend what has been built in electoral matters” because the electoral body cannot get rid of the federal framework without losing effectiveness.
“We are leaving behind the country of one man to make way for free, contestable and credible elections,” he said. To achieve this, marches and the ability to form electoral bodies were required from eight reforms between 1988 and 2014.
“The results are visible. From this, competitive elections were achieved, plural Congresses. The constitutional and peaceful alternation occurred thanks to the democratization process and in 200 years of independent life it had not been achieved. The culminating building was the INE and that change cannot be explained without the existence of the electoral system,” he argued.
“Mexico cannot return to the time of an electoral institution aligned with the government. Mexico cannot centralize electoral processes in two huge institutions, not only because Mexico is a federal republic, but also because there are 32 sovereign entities in the country,” he pointed out.
The current president of the INE, Lorenzo Cordova, has expressed his “enthusiasm” for the demonstrations in Mexico City and other locations.
“The members of the General Council of the INE decided not to participate in these legitimate acts of defense of democracy to prevent our presence from being used to disqualify the free will of the citizens who today made themselves heard in the streets to protect our democratic achievements” , has highlighted.
In response, a spokesman for the ruling party, Morena, Mario Delgado, has criticized the organizers of the demonstration, some “addicts to luxuries and privileges.”
“It is time for definitions, while Mexicans again and again express their desire for change, the conservative group is precisely resisting change, to live in an authentic democracy. They want to keep the practices of the old regime in force and continue manipulating the authorities. elections because they believe they own democracy in this country”, he pointed out.
The electoral reform does not aspire to the disappearance of the INE, he assured, but “on the contrary, seeks to strengthen it, as well as give more power to the people and that politics cost less.”
