As many as 500,000 protesters gathered in Mexico City Sunday to express opposition to the government’s actions to limit the powers of the electoral authority, protest organizers said.
The Mexico City government, which is heavily influenced by President Andres Manuel López Obrador’s party, said the number was far fewer, its own estimate claiming 90,000 people took part in the protest.
Many protesters wore pink, the color of the National Electoral Institution (INE), and carried signs that read: “Hands off the INE.” According to NBC, “Critics have vowed to take the legislation, which slashes the INE’s budget and staff as well as paring back its responsibilities, to the Supreme Court.”
“Mexican lawmakers last week approved a bill backed by the president to slash the budget of the agency, which could lead to an 85% reduction in its staff as well as the closure of several local offices,” CNN said.
News reports and social media said that protests took place in more than 100 cities. Newspaper Excelsior reported that around 22,000 protesters assembled in Nuevo Leon’s capital, Monterrey. In Jalisco’s capital, Guadalajara, news network Milenio reported that another 20,000 people gathered to protest the government’s actions.
Electoral officials fear the new change done by López Obrador and his administration will be a threat to democracy in Mexico. Lorenzo Córdova, president councillor of the INE, posted to Twitter on Feb. 19, saying the new reductions can “seriously affect future electoral processes.”
Mexico citizens have a very real concern that this restriction on companies like INE is a step in the wrong direction for a fair democracy. Many fear it will take the government back into the autocratic single-party that it had been for decades prior to 2000. López Obrador denied the claims, and said the purpose of the new bill is to save millions of dollars and create more efficient voting.
Will Freeman, a Latin America studies fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said López Obrador’s remarks were “inflammatory, reckless, and just as dangerous for democracy as the reform of the INE that brought over 100,000 Mexicans to the streets.” He continued, “We should be concerned in any country where you see an incumbent president shaking up the electoral administration while there’s really no force left standing in opposition to push back.”
According to the INE, “The president’s overhaul violates the constitution, curbs its independence and eliminates thousands of jobs dedicated to safeguarding the electoral process, making it harder to hold free and fair elections.”
Antonio Mondragon, a protester at the Mexico City gathering who voted for López Obrador, said the president was acting like a “dictator.”
“We need to get back to being a democracy,” said Mondragon, “because the man is going mad.”