Politics: AMLO radicalizes discourse and actions to bolster his power and shore up his base

MEXICO - Report 11 Apr 2022 by Guillermo Valdes and Francisco González

In the past weeks, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has radicalized both his discourse and measures on several levels, all in an effort to consolidate his project and ensure its continuity with a Morena victory in the 2024 presidential elections. Sparks have been flying between the country’s electoral authorities on one side, and AMLO, Morena, and top government and military officials on the other, over the latter’s refusal to abide by National Electoral Institute (INE) and Federal Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF) regulations banning partisan promotion of the presidential recall vote held this past Sunday. INE President Lorenzo Córdova has even raised the specter of the TEPJF's nullifying the results due to blatantly illegal interference in the process by the President and his allies. The vote itself, the official result of which will be no surprise given the opposition’s call for a boycott, is a move by AMLO to shore up his popular support.

The President is also moving full steam ahead on two controversial legislative proposals. The Electricity Industry Reform is key to AMLO’s political project and has been facing and largely circumventing legal challenges. This reform proposal has also resulted in conflicts with the U.S. government and business circles that warn it will inhibit investment in Mexico.

The Electoral Reform, while not immediately on the agenda, poses the danger of reversing democratic advances in the Mexican political system. The three main planks of the reform are to eliminate the proportional representation lists that allow minority parties to have a presence in Congress, cut public financing for political parties, and have the voters directly elect INE board members and TEPJF judges. The aim is to shore up Morena’s chances of retaining the presidency in 2024 and reduce the weight of the opposition parties in the incoming legislature.

The challenge for the President is that to achieve these reforms he has to have the backing of at least a part of the current opposition legislators.

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