Mexico to Hold Mandate Revocation Survey

Mexico’s National Electoral Institute (INE) received the 2.75 million signatures necessary to hold the country’s first Mandate Revocation survey in history. In this survey, the Mexican population will be asked if they want President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to leave or remain in office until the end of his six-year term in 2024.

The survey has been strongly promoted by President López Obrador and his administration but Mexico’s electoral institute had tried to avoid it, citing lack of funds. Last week, the president presented INE an austerity plan so it could bear the costs of this “democratic exercise,” as the president has called it on several occasions, as previously mentioned in MBN. The president’s budget reportedly would save INE MX$2.97 billion (US$146 million). In addition, it was commented that nothing bad is being asked of the INE since the government itself has carried out these changes to have a larger budget. The opposition has opposed the survey, naming it “a permanent campaign” for López Obrador to mobilize his base. 

On Jan. 18, INE announced it received signatures from 3 percent of Mexico’s total voters from at least 17 states, a necessary step to carry out the revocation survey on April 10. “The [survey for the] revocation of the mandate (survey) goes. The constitutional exercise that has been established, and in which the institution has been working because it has the legal obligation to do so, is happening because the main requirements are already covered and the scope and coverage are being seen,” said René Miranda, Executive Director, Federal Register of Voters. The next step will be to review whether the signatures support the revocation survey, said Miranda. To do so, a statistical sample will be made in Mexico’s 32 states, requiring a MX$ 6.3 million (US$308,000) budget, according to INE.

The large budget leaves a negative precedent that will make similar exercises even more expensive, according to Forbes, which warns that future, the next consultations will also have to be carried out without the adequate budget. Moreover, the Ministry, the Secretaries of the Public Function and the Treasury might interfere with the INE’s autonomy. of the INE, and finally, there is the risk that the Electoral Court determines that the terms of the sentence have not been complied with if the INE disagrees, but it is very likely that they will be ignored, with all that this it implies.

Since the announcement was made, president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has not made any comment on the survey since the news came outs.