Politics: The Morena legislative agenda is at the service of AMLO's main political interests
Now that Congress has reconvened, the administration is focused on putting the final touches on its electoral agenda as the 2024 presidential contest draws nearer. For starters, there is the small matter of the Chamber of Deputies' stripping out the "eternal life clause” from the version of the "Plan B" electoral measures it adopted as Congress was wrapping up last December. Morena has all the votes it needs for that purpose, but it will be relatively powerless to affect whether the Supreme Court declares most of the changes the legislation introduces as unconstitutional, a possibility that looks increasingly likely under the new chief justice.
The administration’s focus will then turn to its best hope for winning control over the National Electoral Institute. With President López Obrador as adverse as ever to negotiating with the opposition and lacking the two-thirds majority needed in the Chamber of Deputies to fill the four seats that are about to open up on the INE governing council, it appears AMLO is betting on ensuring that most of the nominees that a technical evaluation committee will propose are amicable toward the Fourth Transformation project. Once Congress deadlocks over the choices offered by the technical committee, it then becomes an election by sortition. But this session of Congress will be dealing with a much longer agenda between now and the end of April, including numerous appointments by the Senate to courts, commissions and the leadership of public sector companies.
Cognizant that Morena has no intention to allow them to pass any legislation of their own, opposition parties long ago ceased publishing detailed agendas, opting instead to publish austere outlines of general topics and intentions, without so much as specifying what laws they believe need to be changed. Morena, on the other hand, publishes a list of the pieces of legislation that the government has already instructed the party to ensure reach the floor for a vote. This week we take a detailed look at the issues pending before the current session of Congress. This includes the content of specific laws and policy issues that Morena lawmakers have discussed putting before the current session, as well as their broader political implications.
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