Mexico: Supreme Court Orders Mandate Revocation Consultation

On Thursday, Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) celebrated the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) to order the National Electoral Institute (INE) not to postpone the consultation on the revocation of the presidential mandate.

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"It is a very good decision because democracy should not be hindered nor the Constitution should be violated," AMLO said during his daily press conference at the National Palace.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ordered the electoral authorities to use the US$72.5 million approved by Congress to organize the consultation scheduled for April 2022. The consultation to revoke the presidential mandate is a process that AMLO himself has promoted as a direct democracy mechanism, which will be implemented in the middle of each six-year presidential term.

Through this process, citizens can express whether they want the President to continue governing or to resign. The Mexican right, however, has opposed the implementation of this consultation, arguing that it is part of AMLO's "permanent" political campaign.

On Dec. 17, the INE counselors decided to suspend the popular consultation arguing that their institution does not have enough money after Congress, with a majority of the ruling National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), cut about US$235 million from its budget.

"It is anti-democratic to hinder the holding of a consultation to ask citizens about the behavior of an authority," insisted AMLO, who previously warned that the Mexican people will organize the consultation if the INE is unable to do so.

This idea was taken up at the press conference on Thursday, when the Mexican president said that 10 polling companies could carry out the consultation on the revocation of the mandate.