Mexico - December 2022

On 6 December, Mexico’s lower chamber of congress voted to reject President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s controversial constitutional electoral reform bill, which had been criticised for weakening the independence and capacity of the country's National Electoral Institute (INE). The President’s alternative so-called “Plan B” electoral reform, which seeks to amend six secondary electoral laws, was approved on 14 December. Opponents denounce it as an unconstitutional attempt by the president’s Morena party to consolidate power and claim it will weaken the country’s electoral infrastructure.

Following the reform’s approval in the Senate and the lower house, INE issued a statement pointing out that the reform will jeopardise the establishment of polling stations, vote counting, timely monitoring of radio and television stations, and oversight of political party activities and election campaigns. The reform will be reviewed again by the Senate in February to discuss a last-minute change approved in the lower chamber.  It is expected that Plan B will ultimately be challenged in the Supreme Court, as many of its provisions have been criticised as unconstitutional.

Sources: Court House News, CNN, La Jornada, Mexico News Daily

Journalist Ciro Gómez Leyva, one of Mexico’s most prominent television and radio presenters, was the victim of an assassination attempt on 15 December. The attack and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s controversial response to it generated public uproar. On 21 December, an open letter signed by nearly 200 prominent Mexican journalists, columnists and cultural commentators was published. The letter demanded that the president stop harassing critical media and argued that he fans the flames of violence with his rhetoric. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) identified Mexico as the most dangerous country for journalists for a fourth consecutive year, with at least 11 journalists murdered in 2022, nearly 20 per cent of the global total. Other organizations have reported higher numbers - at least 15 media workers killed in 2022, according to an Associated Press tally, making it the deadliest year for journalists in three decades.

Sources: Reuters, Reporters Without Borders, Al Jazeera, Committee to Protect Journalists, Latin Post