(Mexico City) The Mexican electoral authority has suspended the referendum project that Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wanted to organize next April on his staying in power until the end of his term in 2024 on Friday.
“These are delay tactics,” the leftist Mexican president, a fan of popular consultations, warned during his morning press conference even before the National Electoral Institute’s decision.
By six votes to five, the National Institute of Statistics halted preparations for these consultations that were initially scheduled for April 10, due to budget shortfalls.
“With the money we have, we simply cannot organize” a popular consultation on repealing the presidential mandate, said Lorenzo Cordova, head of the National Institute of Statistics.
He stressed that this is just a pause in preparations for the popular consultation and “no comment.”
The National Statistics Institute says it will continue to study the signatures it receives in favor of the referendum.
An association close to power, “Que siga la democracia” (“May democracy live”) claims to have collected 3.7 million signatures in favor of this “democratic practice”. The assembly condemns “the National Electoral Institute’s attack on democracy in Mexico”.
Leaders of the ruling National Reform Movement (Morena) have warned that they will appeal to the Federal Electoral Tribunal.
President Lopez Obrador recalled that the Supreme Court had ruled that its “transitional consultative” project respected the Constitution.
The president was elected in 2018 to a single six-year term, and he still has a popular rating of over 60%.
Since his election, the former mayor of Mexico City has organized several public consultations. The last meeting last August suggested the prosecution of his five predecessors. The participation rate did not exceed 7.1%. The required quorum is 40%.