Ricardo Pascoe Pierce
Before July 6, 1988, in Mexico, the issue of the electoral body that counted the votes was not a matter of interest, let alone debate. The Ministry of the Interior received the votes, counted them, and announced the winner. The PRI was the hegemonic force and always won. The Secretary of the Interior at that time was Manuel Bartlett, López Obrador’s current ally and director of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) in the Morenista government.
He was the one who declared that the counting system had “fallen” (or was it silent?) on July 6 and, therefore, said that the results would be announced “afterward”. Of course, he had already declared the PRI the winner.
That July 6, 1988, changed Mexico’s electoral and political history. From that moment on, the integration and functioning of the electoral body became crucial and a source of great conflict between the opposition and the ruling party.
Between 1988 and 1996, there were eight years of permanent conflict over electoral credibility. The dispute revolved around the dependence of the electoral body on the federal government. At the heart of the dispute was the electoral body’s lack of independence from official interests and the urgency of fostering citizen confidence in electoral results by ensuring the political and operational autonomy of the referee.
Finally, the 1996 reform gave the Federal Electoral Institute autonomy and independence and succeeded in appointing a Governing Council completely separate from the federal government and its interests. And the impact of the referee’s independence was seen in action. In the mid-term elections of 1997, the PRD won the Mexico City governorship, and the opposition won a majority in the Chamber of Deputies for the first time since the Mexican Revolution. Three years later, in 2000, opposition candidate Vicente Fox won the presidency.
And the era of democratic alternation began. It has lasted until today. Now, López Obrador, Sheinbaum, Ebrard, and the members of Morena want to turn the clock back to the past, disappearing INE so that the federal government can return to controlling the elections as it pleases. They aspire to return to the old authoritarian regime. They propose the “bartlettization” of elections. A return to pre-1988.
If the opposition remains united, it will be able to stop the regressive attempt at authoritarianism that López Obrador wants. He does not want more democracy; he wants more political control. He does not want more consultations; he wants more space to impose his projects. He does not want free elections; he wants tailor-made elections. He wants to concentrate all the power in the hands of the politicians, distancing the citizens from the decisions.
The opposition has a duty to respond to the historic interest of the Mexican people. That interest is firmly placed in the camp of aspiring to have free, balanced elections with an impartial and independent arbiter, alien to governmental pressures.
The opposition must be firm in Congress and not enter into the game of negotiations. It must strongly and categorically reject the President’s proposal. In the face of Morena’s attempt at a coup, the opposition must be radical and say emphatically: NO.
To show the social energy that defends INE, shouting “INE NO Se Toca” (INE Should not be touched), Mexicans will march on November 13 at 10 am from the Angel of Independence to the Hemiciclo a Juárez. We are all invited to defend democracy in Mexico.
Democracies can die. Those who aspire to give our country a long democratic life will march.
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