Four months before the elections in Mexico, López Obrador presents a new package of constitutional reforms

Four months before the elections and despite not have a parliamentary majority sufficient to be able to carry out constitutional reforms without consensus, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obradorwill present this Monday a series of initiatives which he considers transcendental to his political legacy and to protecting what he called “the fourth transformation of Mexico” when he came to power in 2018.

Among the proposals he will send to Congress there are several elevate the social programs already in force to constitutional statusreform the pension system or ensure adequate annual increases in the minimum wage.

But there are also proposals that, in advance, the president himself recognized as having little or no chance of success because they were rejected by the entire opposition or even by the courts.

However, as he announced in several press conferences, he still wants to present them so that it is clear that he supports them.

Waiting for this Monday, when 107 years have passed since the promulgation of the ConstitutionIn detail, López Obrador has already put forward several initiatives.

He said he would again present proposals that the National Guard – his administration’s star corps – remain in the hands of the army and not under civilian power as established at its creation, or that state energy companies take priority over private ones .Yes, the Nation’s Supreme Court of Justice has already ruled against it of previous laws with these objectives.

Remove regulatory bodies

Also aims to eliminate regulatory bodieslike antitrust or transparency, because it considers it “they don’t serve the people” even though all the opposition parties have harshly attacked this idea which would damage the country’s democracy and competitiveness. López Obrador also tried, unsuccessfully, to reform the National Electoral Institute and electoral laws shortly before this year’s competition.

Another of the controversial proposals that could be finalized this Monday is a reform of the judiciary so that, among other things, Supreme Court justices are elected by popular vote, something that experts believe could undermine the impartiality of the highest court.

But in the heat of the run-up to the June 2 general elections, there are also measures that They may have opposition support.

Pensions law

Among these is the proposal to change the pension law and that workers can receive 100% of your final salary upon retirementan idea that, in principle, the three main opposition groups presenting themselves in the elections in coalition – the Institutional Revolutionary Party, the National Action Party and the Party of the Democratic Revolution – have shown willing to study.

It is not excluded that they may also support other social initiatives which are those that have given the president the greatest political returns.

Before this series of initiatives, López Obrador had sent 10 constitutional reforms to Congress, of which only five were approved, according to Senate data. Among these stand out the creation of the National Guard, the revocation of the mandate and some social programs.

In its more than a century of history, the Mexican Constitution has been reformed 256 occasions.

The president recognized that by presenting all these proposals four months before the votes he wants to secure as many changes as possible so that whoever comes to power, “It won’t be easy to remove them.”

Despite being in the last stretch of his mandate, López Obrador maintains its popularity very high which benefits the candidate of the ruling party, Claudia Sheinbaumwhich remains a favorite followed by Xóchitl Gálvez, the candidate of the opposition coalition.

Sheinbaum Pardo is a Mexican politician and scientist born in Mexico City in 1962. She currently works as Head of Government of Mexico City, position to which she was elected in the 2018 elections as a candidate for the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) party.