In Mexico, supreme court invalidates portions of AMLO's 'plan B' electoral reform

Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled [on 8 May] that part of a suite of laws aiming to reform the country’s electoral system is unconstitutional. Nine of the court’s 11 justices voted in favor of the initiative on grounds that the reform was rushed through Congress without proper debate. A supermajority of eight votes is necessary to rule a law unconstitutional. [...] The move throws another wrench in the gears set in motion by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has seen several of his controversial initiatives make their way to the high court. When his first attempt to reform Mexico’s Constitution failed, López Obrador put through a batch of legislative reforms that he termed his “Plan B” electoral reform. “The challenged decree violates the right to freedom of expression, transparency, access to public information and accountability,” said Justice Alberto Pérez Dayán, who brought the initiative before the court, during debate. “Neither the Chamber of Deputies nor the Senate provided spaces in which the citizenry could actively participate in the discussion of the regulations of social communication, with an impact on electoral processes,” he said. Filed by members of opposition parties in the Congress and one state-level political party, the challenge also claimed that the Plan B laws in question violate Indigenous communities’ right to be consulted of such political changes with ample anticipation. Ten of the court’s 11 justices rule this part of the plan unconstitutional.
Read the full article here: Courthouse News Service