President López Obrador Proposes 20 New Reforms

President López Obrador has presented a new package of reforms covering different areas such as indigenous rights, pension guarantees, healthcare, education, and environmental issues. Despite uncertainties about the reforms’ approval, experts suggest that López Obrador is strategically positioning his party MORENA as a leader on social issues to have an advantage in the upcoming presidential elections. 

On Feb. 5, the president introduced 20 reform proposals that aim to leave behind the policies that have caused greater social inequality and finally ensure that the country better protects its citizens. The news reforms are: 

• For indigenous peoples and communities to be recognized as subjects of public law, giving them preference

• Guaranteeing the right to a pension from the age of 65, with an increasing amount year after year

• New scholarships for low-income students

• Guaranteeing the right to free medical care

• Guaranteeing the right of Mexicans to own their home

• Prohibiting animal abuse

• Prohibiting fracking for the extraction of hydrocarbons

• Managing areas with scarce water resources carefully, allowing its use exclusively for domestic purposes

• Banning the sale of vapers and drugs like fentanyl

• Guaranteeing that the increase in the minimum wage is greater than inflation

• Establishing the minimum wage for teachers, national guards, soldiers, navy members, and doctors at least at the same level as the income granted to workers registered with IMSS

• Removing pension reforms approved during Ernesto Zedillo’s government

• Guaranteeing the right to education and work

• Guaranteeing farmers’ access to a salary like the one offered in the Sowing Life program

• Establishing the use of the 18,000km of railways granted during Zedillo’s government for public transportation, not just cargo.

• Reducing campaign and political party expenses, decreasing the number of council members, eliminating electoral bureaucratic structures and multi-member candidacies

• Reducing the Chamber of Deputies to 300 deputies from the current 500, and the Senate to 64 members instead of 128.

• Public election of judges, magistrates, and ministers of the Judicial Branch

• Administration of the National Guard by the Ministry of National Defense

• Turning “Republican Austerity” into policy so that no one in the public sector can earn more than the president

• Eliminating autonomous organizations to save money

López Obrador's proposals have been rejected by PRI and the PRD, while PAN and Moimiento Ciudadano said they will analyze the proposals before making a decision. For these reforms to be approved, it is necessary that two thirds of the Chambers support them. MORENA and its coalition hold 273 votes out of the 334 votes necessary for a qualified majority in the Chamber of Deputies. In the Senate, they have secured 71 out of the 84 votes required.

While their approval remains uncertain, Palmira Tapia, Political Scientist, CIDE, said that these reforms are a great strategy by MORENA since it puts the party as a social ally. Ortiz Arellano, Member, National System of Researchers, explained that MORENA's candidate, Claudia Sheinbaum, will gain followers thanks to this strategy, regardless of the outcome. Approval would position the party as a catalyst for change, while disapproval may cast the opposition in a negative light for hindering social progress.