Ciro Murayama assured that with plan B, the government seeks to control the vote from abroad

This Monday, February 20, it will be a question in the United Commissions of the Interior and Second Legislative Studies, the reforms of secondary electoral laws, better known as Plan B of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), contested by both the opposition bloc and the National Electoral Institute (INE).

For amendments to six secondary laws amend part of the functioning of the country’s electoral bodies, as well as the process and its attributions. For what the opposition bench parties and even INE itself have presented challenges before the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) for the reforms to be removed.

Likewise, the directors of the Institute, Lorenzo Cordoba Vianello there Ciro Murayama They held a series of messages and conferences in which they discussed the alleged problems that Plan B would leave behind, such as removing the autonomy of election arbiters and instead greater government control.

As part of these actions, Councilor Ciro Murayama shared a video on his social networks where he assured that with Plan B, the government will control those who vote from abroad, which would put electoral processes at risk.

In the audiovisual you can see Murayama in the state of Baja California, from the border town of Tijuanawhere he explained that the INE has given more than a million credentials to Mexicans who are in UNITED STATESwhich he assured amounted to more than 12 million.

“We are in Tijuana where our country ends and the United States begins. There, on the other side, live more than 12 million Mexicans, today the INE has given more than a million of them a free and reliable voter card.

However, in the video, he warned that the Mexican government, through Plan B, will seek to control the elections by determining who can vote, which would make the elections unreliable.

“The government wants the government itself to determine which of our compatriots can vote from abroad. With the numbers and manipulation of the government, credible elections can be threatened. That’s what Plan B is about,” he said.

Well, with plan B, we’re looking for the electoral register abroad be established by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (ERS), and not only, since it also includes the vote can be issued with the consular registration or with the passport and not only with the title issued by the INE.

“(…) which contradicts article 41 of the Constitution, which gives the INE the exclusive power to establish the Register and the electoral lists”, indicates the Executive Report on the implications of Plan B of the electoral reform published on January 30, 2023.

Although many have indicated that this would facilitate and increase the number of people who can vote, the Institute assured that it breaks with electoral logic, since neither the passport nor the registration was issued for electoral purposes.

In addition, they assured that it would make the job difficult because the INE would have to request files from the SRE and the SRE would request information from the INE for the electoral register, which they said would violate the autonomy of the Institute, among others. administrative and logistical difficulties.

It should be noted that plan B has already been largely approved, only one element is missing: the 12th of General Law on Electoral Institutions and Proceduresalso called “eternal life clause”since it establishes the distribution of the votes obtained by a candidate between the parties that make up the coalition that nominated him.