Mayolo Lopez/Reform Agency
Saturday, February 11, 2023 | 08:24
Mexico City.— Ricardo Monreal slipped the buck of “Plan B”. After receiving a crude diagnosis on the implications that the presidential law would have on electoral matters, the Zacatecan Morenista told representatives of 84 civil organizations that there is nothing more to be done in the Senate to stop this package.
“It will have to be the Court that decides on the issues,” he said. However, for “Plan B” to reach the Court and be stopped, it is necessary for the Senate to approve a pending article and there is still no date for that session.
To enter into force, “Plan B” –which has been questioned because it could dismantle the INE and reduce its effectiveness in the electoral process– must be reviewed before the month of June.
If the Senate approves it in the next few days, it must be waited for the President of the Republic to promulgate it, for which he has a term of up to 40 days, so that, if it is extended to the limit, it would be done in the penultimate week of April.
Only until then can it be challenged and reviewed by the Court, so the time to do so would be short.
As president of the Political Coordination Board in the Senate, Monreal and a group of legislators had a meeting yesterday with leaders of civil groups who warned that with “Plan B” an “availance of challenges” and conflicts of a social nature would ensue. due to the de facto dismantling that will affect the operational structure of the INE.
The head of the Morena bench acknowledged that, after the description offered by operators and electoral advisers from the INE this week in the Senate, he had been concerned.
“I was worried. And what I told them was: ‘this is a house for everyone, we receive you, but there is nothing to do’. I also told them that: ‘the formal process has already been exhausted here and it will have to be the Court that decides on the issues,’” he said in an interview.
Monreal said that the groups “are concerned about the dismantling of the INE. They expressed it that way and I told them that we were left with a concern.
Last year, along with his co-religionist Rafael Espino, Monreal distanced himself and voted against “Plan B”, a package that could not be promulgated because the article on the controversial “eternal life” clause was pending.
The senator announced that Morena will vote to suppress that clause, as will the Green Ecologist and PT benches, parties that have benefited from the transfer of votes implicit in “eternal life.”
As soon as this clause is suppressed – only a simple majority is needed – the Senate will turn over to the federal Executive the package of four laws of “Plan B” for its publication, a necessary step for the reform to be challenged before the Supreme Court of Justice.
Monreal informed the organizations that the commissions involved in the ruling could meet next week, which opens the door for the article on eternal life to be voted on February 21.
