During the last twelve years, the political and party system in Mexico has revealed institutional weaknesses and the weaknesses of society itself, to face the electoral processes at the federal and local levels, which has cast doubt on the reliability of the electoral results. especially those in which the president of the republic and governors are elected.
After the electoral reform of 2007, which put aside such important issues as the possibility of immediate reelection in local and federal deputies, senators and municipal presidents; the second electoral round; The figure of the chief of staff and the creation of a new electoral body that assumes the responsibility of organizing and carrying out the electoral processes at the federal and local levels, presents a new opportunity to strengthen this long process of democratization in Mexico.
Unfortunately, we know that these far-reaching reforms are not exempt from political negotiations and lobbying by political parties, deputies and senators, as well as state governors, who seek to directly influence the shaping of the new political and party order in our country.
This new reform should promote, among other issues:
1. The strengthening of the institution in charge of organizing elections at the federal level, further expanding its supervisory powers, to control the public monies received by the parties; toughen the requirements for obtaining and maintaining their registration, in order to avoid "leech parties", which are served with the big spoon at the expense of the contributions of all citizens. In this regard, there is no doubt that the proposal will advance that parties that misuse public resources lose their registration and their candidates be disqualified.
2. In the area of creating a new autonomous body in charge of organizing the elections, the proposal to expand the number of electoral councilors from 9 to 11 will surely advance and if this new body is the one that endorses the appointment of councilors elections of the local electoral organisms, in order to diminish the degree of influence of the governors in the appointment of the same ones.
3. The creation of the figure of chief of staff, as an option to improve the federal public administration. This is due to initiating a process of transition from a purely presidential system to a semi-presidential one, understanding this as “That system where the president is autonomous, but shares power with a prime minister or chief of staff; in turn, which comes from Parliament and must continually get its support. Thus, the prime minister or chief of the cabinet is engaged in the daily political struggle, from which the president is exempt, because the head of state maintains a non-conflictual relationship with the leaders of the opposing parties and favors compromise, negotiation and the restraint of the competing forces. For this reason, it performs a function of referee.
Undoubtedly, there are other issues that are important and that should be included in this political-electoral reform, such as the proposal to form an Evaluation Committee made up of INEGI, INEE and the National Human Rights Commission to evaluate the candidates of the new National Electoral Institute, which will be proposed in the Chamber of Deputies.
On the other hand, it is important to achieve the homologation of the electoral calendars, in order to achieve the concurrence of the elections for the first Sunday of July. Another element is the creation of the Electoral Court of Justice as the only competent jurisdictional body for the resolution of electoral conflicts, eliminating the state courts and whose function will be to resolve the sanctioning procedures for the offenses committed by the political parties, which currently It is the responsibility of the Federal Electoral Institute.
Regarding citizen participation, institutions should be strengthened and citizens' participation in the democratic life of the country should be expanded, promoting deliberative democracy that allows a greater involvement of citizens in government decision-making.
Undoubtedly, the proposal to ratify the Secretaries of Finance, Foreign Relations and the National Commissioner of Public Security by Congress, are essential issues that should be addressed in the discussion of this reform.
As we can see, the purpose of this reform, which up to now has the support of the three major parties in Congress, is to achieve free and fair elections, ending the vices and practices of the past; facilitate the construction of legislative majorities so that the Powers of the Union function in a cooperation scheme; the strengthening of the administrative work of the Federal Government through the creation of the Chief of Cabinet and the strengthening of the citizenry, granting them greater opportunities to participate in the decision-making of their governments.
If the level of commitment of our legislators is real towards the citizens, the political-electoral reform should see the light in the first two weeks of December. The aforementioned issues are not new, they have only been postponed due to the levels of commitment of the political class in power, leaving aside the democratic consolidation of our country.
Only by promoting a new political-electoral reform will we have to strengthen the quality of democracy in our country. Mexico needs strong and functional institutions. Electoral institutions that administer and impart justice with a new legal framework that allows resolving post-electoral conflicts that provide greater legal certainty to those involved.
Mexican democracy has gone through a long process of more than thirty years. The road is still long, but we will have to move to a new stage in which the political and party system must evolve with a view to creating a more democratic, inclusive and equitable State.
