MEXICO CITY – Following a pair of defections by opposition senators, Mexico’s ruling party said Wednesday it is edging closer to a steamroller two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress.
The ruling Morena party of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said it had won over two senators from the now-defunct Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD. The PRD disappeared as a national party after failing to win a minimum of 3% of the vote in the June 2 elections.
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After being awarded a two-thirds majority in the lower house, the Morena party and its allies are now one vote away from a similar majority in the Senate. Those majorities would allow Morena to push through controversial changes to the Constitution.
Those changes include a proposal to force all judges to stand for election, a move that critics say would concentrate power further in the presidency, erase the independence of the judiciary and open it to influence by those who provide cash to fund those election campaigns. The U.S. ambassador to Mexico publicly voiced similar concerns last week.
After days of speculation, President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum — a member of López Obrador's party — said Wednesday that two opposition senators had decided to join the ruling party block in the Senate.
The two senators, Araceli Saucedo and José Sabino, were immediately called traitors by their former allies and fellow party members in the opposition.
“History will judge them as traitors who took part in the attack on democracy,” wrote Xóchitl Gálvez, the former opposition presidential candidate, in her social media accounts.
Social media users also pointedly posted campaign videos of the two in which they had promised not to switch parties prior to the June 2 election.
“Just like you, I'm tired of the same old grasshopper politicians (who jump from party to party),” Sen. Sabino said in the video. “You have to keep your word.”
While some had hoped Sheinbaum might be more open to consensus and negotiation than her predecessor and political mentor, López Obrador — who leaves office Sept. 30 — there was more disappointing news.
Sheinbaum's party named Sen. Gerardo Fernández Noroña as the leader of the Senate. Fernandez Noroña is known for his taunting, invective-filled speeches and his steadfast refusal to wear a face mask in meetings even when rules required him to do so during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the party with most seats gets to name the leader of the lower house as well, Congress will be led by Rep. Adán Augusto López, an old-style political enforcer whose style is reminiscent of the regional political bosses of the 1940s and 50s.
Electoral court judges signed off on the ruling party's two-thirds majority in the lower house after a final appeal this week, and little now stands in the way of a slate of about 20 Constitutional changes the Morena party plans to push through.
Morena will probably be able to lure away one more senator from one of the smaller parties. Constitutional changes also require approval by two-thirds of state legislatures, and Morena and its allies control about two dozen of Mexico's 32 states.
U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar said last week the proposed judicial changes pose a “risk” to Mexico’s democracy and “threaten the historic commercial relationship” between Mexico and the U.S.
Salazar said the proposed overhaul would “help cartels and other bad actors take advantage of inexperienced judges with political motivations,” and “create turbulence” both economically and politically for years to come.
That raised the ire of the outgoing president, who said this week he had put relations with the U.S. Embassy “on pause” after the ambassador's remarks.