By KELIN DILLON

A group of 430 intellectuals, composed of journalists, political scientists, businessmen, historians, judges and anthropologists, joined together to ask Mexico’s public to vote for the parties most likely to beat the currently in-power National Regeneration Movement (Morena) during the country’s midterm elections this upcoming Sunday, June 6.

“Let’s be clear: It is necessary to defeat the ruling coalition of Morena and its satellite parties at the polls to rectify the country’s course,” said the group in a publicly released letter called Manifesto for the Republic, Democracy and Freedom.

“It is essential not only to advance in the common purpose of building a viable alternative in the face of the populist and authoritarian setback, but also to stop the political, economic and institutional deterioration of the country.”

The coalition of thinkers warned that this election cycle gives the public the opportunity to change the course of Mexico’s current trajectory with free voting, which they hinted may not exist come 2024’s presidential elections if Morena wins the majority now and proceeds to restrict voters’ rights.

“To build an inclusive society based on rights, fairer and more dynamic, requires the participation of multiple and diverse actors that influence the process with their causes and agendas, in contrast to the blind obedience that submits to the designs of a single and messianic voice,” read the letter, referring to Morena’s polarizing and vocal leader, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO).

“The government is using state resources and institutions to favor the government party and the president violates the constitution by intervening in the elections. campaigns, spreading propaganda and derision and persecution of opponents.”

The letter, which was signed by Mexican historian Enrique Krauze and businessman Claudio X. González Guajardo, who AMLO has repeatedly spoken out against during his public daily press conferences, made a point to remind Mexicans how Morena put its electoral ambitions ahead of taking care of the country’s citizens through adequate social programs and proper response to the covid-19 pandemic.

The group urged Mexicans to “close ranks” and vote for whatever party has the best chance of beating Morena in any given municipality, regardless of whichever alternative party it may be.

“We call on citizens to vote with a strategic sense and opt for the most competitive candidates, in such a way so that the opposition vote is not diluted,” the manifesto said.

The letter continued to point out how Mexico under Morena’s stewardship has seen the amount of inhabitants below the poverty line increase by 10 million, as well as how the AMLO government has put treaties and relations with important trade partners like the United States in jeopardy and encouraged a decrease in foreign investment into the country. 

Meanwhile, López Obrador, who recently admitted to his own electoral interference, encouraged journalists and reporters to stop talking about the midterms by Wednesday, June 2, in accordance with Mexican law, which bans the publishing of electoral information by the press in the three days leading up to this Sunday’s, June 6, elections.