Photo: The Pulse News Mexico Team

By KELIN DILLON

While the controversial electoral reform presented by Mexico’s in-power National Regeneration Movement (Morena) and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) has been widely rejected by opposition parties, the international community and the Mexican electorate alike, Morena has now encountered another roadblock to its proposed electoral reform to the Mexican Constitution – this time in the form of its usual legislative collaborators and allies, the Green Party (PVEM) and the Labor Party (PT).

The proposed reform, which would see the autonomous electoral organization the National Electoral Institute (INE) eliminated, significantly reduce political party funding and lower the number of elected deputies from 500 to 300 and senators from 128 to 96 if passed, was originally set to be voted on Monday, Nov. 28, but was rescheduled to Tuesday, Dec. 6, following pushback from the PVEM and PT.

According to reports from inside the Chamber of Deputies, both the PVEM and PT feel as if their opinions were not taken into account by their Morena allies, in both the electoral reform proposal and the contentious “plan b” route to reform secondary electoral laws that Morena announced it would follow if its constitutional reform fails to reach the two-thirds majority needed for passage.

These same reports reveal that the PVEM and PT purportedly have objections to the reform’s proposed reductions in political party financing and the cuts in numbers of deputies and senators, which would disproportionately affect minority parties such as themselves.

While Morena Coordinator Ignacio Mier claimed the vote’s push to Dec. 6 was made out of “prudence,” PVEM Coordinator Carlos Puente and PT Vice Coordinator Gerardo Fernández Noroña refuted Mier’s claim and instead stated that the “plan b” electoral reform is not ready for presentation and that the two parties were “clearly not” consulted by Morena throughout the plan’s quick development.

Intent on making their voices heard, the PT and PVEM have presented their own proposals for the “plan b” secondary law reforms, including provisions that minority parties can roll over their registration across elections and the nomination of candidates under common candidacy, as well as floating the idea of transferring votes between allied political parties and reducing party funding without crippling parties’ day-to-day operations.

Despite the pushback from his allies, who will be crucial in securing passage of the secondary law reforms in the likely event that the constitutional reform is rejected, López Obrador has continued to insist that the “plan b” reforms will be ready for presentation this upcoming weekend.