The turbulence of demagogues overthrows democratic governments.
Aristotle
There is no truce in the attacks to hurt our democratic system.
First, the president sent to Congress in April 2022 a proposal for a constitutional reform on electoral matters that was rejected towards the end of that year since its approval required a qualified majority and the opposition parties voted against it. By the way, it is not understood why it was not submitted to the Legislature during the first three years of his term, when the official parties had a qualified majority. It seems that the lack of expertise saved the country from “plan A”.
Given this result, the so-called “plan B” was promoted, whose orientation and regressive motives, without removing a single comma, was approved with the “majority” of the deputies and senators unconditional to the president, in adherence to the blind faith that is required of them, without reading the initiatives and hindering parliamentary debate, violating the legislative process.
The president has insisted that his electoral reform initiative, which seeks to strengthen the INE and democracy because there are still “risks of electoral fraud”, is a “reform of the people”, as if he were the personification of the people and the nation . Obviously it is one more deception, since his intention is to dismantle the INE so that the government is the operator of the electoral processes, with which we would return to a scenario in which electoral fraud would be possible.
The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, bulwark of the Constitution, has enforced the rule of law by granting suspension of the application of the provisions approved by the Congress of the Union known as “plan B”, which gives an important I breathe to the division of powers and to democracy. We trust that the next step is to declare the unconstitutionality of this legal monstrosity and it will be definitively discarded. We are certain that our last bastion, which is the Supreme Court, is exposed to enormous political pressures, which puts the definition of the vote at risk.
The president has not stopped to spread that, in the judiciary, according to his words, there is corruption and that its members are part of the “power mafia.”
Democracy would not be possible with a corrupt judicial system and the president’s objective is – precisely – that our democracy ceases to be so. If “plan B” prospers, human rights such as political-electoral rights would be violated. He has also insisted that the reason for those of us who defend the INE is limited to a matter of salary amounts for its advisers. The fact that these salaries are reduced is not the problem, it is about avoiding an authoritarian hegemony that sets the course of the electoral will.
We must be aware that the electoral power distances itself from the three classic powers since it is a citizen power.
Now the president is promoting a “plan C”, which consists of imposing electoral advisers, who without taking into account the well-founded suspicions that they cheated in the knowledge exam or their closeness to the ruling party, could fill the four vacancies in the INE General Council, including the presidency, and thus have advisors loyal to the president and his party. If the president were consistent, he would have to veto applicants with partisan ties, just as he did with INAI.
We see how, without any modesty, measures have been applied to hinder the proper functioning of the autonomous organizations by proposing new members lacking training and experience, delaying the appointment of those who should join the aforementioned organizations or reducing the budget items to operate, all this with the consent of the unconditional legislators to the tenant of the National Palace.
The serious conflict generated by the presidential desire to destroy our democracy has fallen like a glove as a great distractor that prevents other growing national problems from being addressed, such as the increasingly frequent discovery of acts of corruption, cover-ups and impunity in government.
In two of the dependencies created in this administration, such as Mexican Food Security (Segalmex) and the Institute to Return the Stolen to the People, corruption is scandalous. In Segalmex, its size not only makes the most emblematic case of the previous six-year term called “Master Scam” pale, it implies misappropriation of resources in an area as sensitive as the distribution of food for the most vulnerable in the country. For its part, at the Institute to Return the Stolen to the People, the head of its Directorate of Material Resources resigned after being accused of extorting workers.
The president declared in the Zócalo the day he won the elections that “We will listen to everyone, we will attend to everyone, we will respect everyone.” However, he daily belittles reality as well as offending, insulting, defaming, disqualifying and threatening those who differ from his way of thinking.
The increase in the president’s daily actions to polarize society and incite his followers to attack his opponents is unacceptable, which only fractures the culture of peace.
Let’s continue acting in defense of the institutions, let’s not allow the destructive attacks of the president or his collaborators.
It is forgotten that hatred is opposed to the culture of peace, for this reason it is our duty to address such a delicate issue and insist on the danger involved in propitiating it and on the need to mitigate it.
Let’s not let our future be canceled!
*The author is a lawyer, negotiator and mediator.
Twitter: @Phmergoldd
