Fareed Zakaria, Indo-American writer and journalist, in his Friday column in The Washington Post, stated that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is destroying Mexico’s “fair” electoral system, and called a “populist demagogue”.
He remarked that the Mexican president has as “his target” the National Electoral Institute (INE), “which he is emptying”.
The host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS also explained that the INE, “which has earned the reputation of being independent and competent (…) is now López Obrador’s target. Last month, his party passed a bill to drastically weaken it. He initially pushed a plan that would have killed the institute altogether and replaced it with a new body, but could not pass the bar to pass a constitutional amendment. So he has settled for legislation that hollows it out. Its budget will be cut by nearly a third. It will close many local offices and lay off 6,000 staff members. His powers will be reduced (…) He says he is doing this to improve the voting process and save tens of millions of dollars a year.”
The journalist continued: “López Obrador cannot legally run for a second term as president; he is taking these steps to ensure that the next elections will result in a legislative victory for his party”.
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