2023 is a pre-electoral year. It is also the year when the primaries and other major activities leading to the celebrating of the municipal elections in February 2024 and the presidential and congressional elections in May 2024 are organized and take place.
But while the bill with amendments to the Political Parties Law and Electoral Regime Law was submitted with months in advance by the new board of the Central Electoral Board (JCE), the legislators have dilly-dallied and now with just days to go for the closing of the regular legislative sessions are rushing to fast-track the bills.
The Electoral Regime amendments passed in the Senate have met with considerable criticism. The Participación Ciudadana civic watchdog entity says the new rules place the political parties above the Central Electoral Board. This government entity supposedly is fully responsible for the organization of the elections.
Meanwhile, the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) leaders in Congress are reportedly seeking consensus with other political parties to pass a bill that would be custom-made to the interests of the political parties in general. This is the same bill that was fast-tracked in 2019 in time for the 2020 general elections and then met with numerous instances when the Constitutional Court had to rule against articles in the law.
In her commentary on the efforts to pass the amendments, political analyst Altagracia Salazar highlights that the PRM is majority in Congress and has had the bills for long months. She also points out how the articles were deliberated extensively in numerous meetings of the members of the Social and Economic Council throughout 2022. “These politicians are not thinking beyond their particular political interests,” she complains.
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Altagracia Salazar sin Maquillaje
11 January 2023