Background on the Political Allies of Morena
The Partido Verde Ecologista de México (PVEM) and the Partido del Trabajo (PT), political allies of Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena), voted in favor of eliminating plurinominal seats when proposed by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador three years ago. However, they now vehemently oppose the inclusion of this topic in the electoral reform announced by President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.
The 2022 Reform Attempt
In December 2022, a constitutional reform decreed by López Obrador to reduce 200 federal deputies and 32 senate plurinominal seats was voted on by the Chamber of Deputies. The bill received approval from 40 out of 41 PVEM legislators and 31 out of 33 PT legislators, with absences from Janine Patricia Quijano Tapia (PVEM) and Ana Laura Bernal Camarena, Brígido Ramírez Moreno Hernández (PT).
Despite the support from Morena-PVEM-PT, the bill was rejected as it failed to achieve the required two-thirds majority of votes for approval.
Historical Context: PVEM’s 2017 Proposal
Seven years ago, the PVEM formally proposed reducing the number of federal deputies and senators in the Federal Legislative Power.
On February 21, 2017, all 41 members of the PVEM group in the Chamber of Deputies during the LXIII Legislature of the Union Congress presented a constitutional reform proposal to eliminate 200 federal deputies and 32 senators, resulting in a Chamber of Deputies of 300 and a Senate of 96 members.
“It is worth noting that the proposal to reduce the number of deputies and senators respects the principles of proportionality and political pluralism in the representation at the Federal Congress, while also intending to strengthen Mexican democracy through a redistribution of legislators based on their election mechanisms,” states the exposition of motives in the PVEM initiative.
The PVEM thus formalized a proposal made by their presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto during the 2012 campaign, in alliance with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). By 2017, Peña Nieto was already the President of Mexico.
PVEM’s Specific Proposal
The PVEM proposed reducing 200 federal deputies, maintaining the current proportion of deputies elected through reference principles (60% majority and 40% plurinominal) while transitioning from 300 to 180 deputies elected by the relative majority principle and from 200 to 120 deputies through electoral circuit systems.
For the Senate, the PVEM suggested that each of Mexico’s 32 federal entities be represented by 3 legislators, with a total of 96 senators. Out of these, 32 would be distributed among different political parties based on their election votes, no longer referred to as “proportional representation” but as “democratic representation.”
Key Questions and Answers
- What is the main issue at hand? The debate revolves around eliminating plurinominal seats in Mexico’s legislative bodies, with former allies of Morena now opposing the idea.
- Who are the key political parties involved? The Partido Verde Ecologista de México (PVEM), the Partido del Trabajo (PT), and Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) are central to this discussion.
- What was the 2022 reform attempt? A constitutional reform was proposed to decrease the number of federal deputies and senators, but it failed to secure the necessary votes for approval.
- What was the PVEM’s 2017 proposal? The PVEM suggested reducing federal deputies and senators to 300 and 96, respectively, while maintaining proportional representation principles.
