Claudia Salazar / Reform Agency
Tuesday, May 16, 2023 | 18:42
Mexico City.- Ignacio Mier, coordinator of the Morena deputies, presented a proposed question that would be used in a popular consultation on the form of election of the ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.
“Does Mexico deserve or not to make use of its right to participate in a procedure that modifies the procedure established by Constitutional 96 for the appointment of ministers?” Mier said when presenting his proposal.
After the wave of criticism of his pronouncement to request a popular consultation on the appointment of ministers, the coordinator denied that it is an electoral issue and that there is no citizen participation for said exercise.
He said that it depends on the answer, if it is binding, if there is a constitutional reform in Congress afterwards.
“Everything that has to do after that will respond to the binding response that Mexican men and women make or not,” he said at a press conference.
He did not explain what would happen if the participation does not reach the minimum required of 40 percent participation, as happened with the popular consultation on the former presidents of the Republic, held in August 2021 and which cost 522 million pesos.
On that occasion, only 7 percent of the electoral roll participated, of 93 million voters, so there were no binding actions to “clarify” past political decisions.
He indicated that the consultation is the first step to go to a reform next year, when the new legislature is integrated.
“We have reflected on the need for the people of Mexico to make use of their right to decide and make a categorical decision of ‘yes or no’, on the need to modify the procedure for the appointment of the members of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, the ministers of the Court”, justified Mier.
He pointed out that the consultation would not yet alter the requirements to be a minister.
He invited all critics of his proposal to give their opinion in the Chamber of Deputies.
He demanded that the lawyer Diego Valadés give his opinion on the subject, without knowing what Morena’s proposal is, without going into depth or “with the rigor that corresponds to an emeritus teacher such as he is.”
He assured that before the deputies present the request for popular consultation to the president of the Chamber, Santiago Creel, they will invite the experts to hear their opinion.
“We are going to make a formal invitation for us to come here to debate. We are not going to debate to modify the republican regime of our Country, that nobody wants that. We want to strengthen the republican regime of division of powers: the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial , and that we punctually review whether the procedure established by Constitutional 96 is what Mexicans deserve, because the right is established and that it is inalienable, that emanates from the people, to participate in matters of national importance,” argued Mier.
He denied that it is an electoral issue because the appointment of the ministers, through the Senate at the proposal of the federal executive, is not challengeable in the Electoral Tribunal.
To pay for the consultation, he pointed out that now the INE budget will be reviewed in 2024 so that it can be carried out.
Denies revenge against the Court
Ignacio Mier rejected that the consultation is a revenge against the Court, after it invalidated a part of the electoral reform, known as “Plan B”.
“It is not revenge, on the contrary, I would say that being silenced in a democratic country after what they did, I would feel bad, I would not go to sleep with a clear conscience as a legislator and as coordinator of the majority, and as a representative, president of this Power, that another Power, without going to the bottom, violates the procedures,” said Mier, without specifying that “Plan B” was invalidated by the majority of Morena, for annulling the democratic deliberation in Congress.
Deputy Juan Ramiro Robledo, president of the Constitutional Points Commission, also pointed out that the consultation is only to see if a reform is made or not so that the ministers are elected by universal vote.
He indicated that they seek to “force” Congress to legislate to change the way ministers are elected.
“We are thinking of turning to that tool of direct democracy that would allow all of Mexico to have an opinion, whether the third constitutional power (the Court), which has very important powers and which reviews everyone’s acts, should or should not have support and legitimacy in the suffrage of the entire population in Mexico, of all citizens”.
“It would then be a matter of first consulting whether one or two provisions of the Constitution can be modified to change the method for appointing the ministers of the Court,” he stated to explain Mier’s question.
