The five-term president of the Chamber of Deputies, Alfredo Pacheco of the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) says he favors a reduction in the number of deputies. The PRM has the number of deputies and senators to push forward changes to the 2015 Constitution that pegs the number of deputies to the population.
This is not the first time the issue of the excessive number of deputies has come up. But because legislative jobs come with many perks, the political class over the years has looked the other way, just adding more seats to the Chamber of Deputies hall.
Pacheco will return to the Chamber of Deputies to represent his party for the 2024-2028 term. It is yet to be seen whether he will again be elected to preside the sessions.
Pacheco has been a deputy for 1994-1998, 1998-2002, 2002-2006, 2016-2020, and 2020-2024.
The ruling PRM party has the absolute majority to change the Constitution when Congress meets to start the first legislature of the 2024-2028 term on 20 August 2024.
There are 190 deputies elected every four years, including 178 that work in the Chamber of Deputies hall of Congress. Pacheco acknowledged, “There are too many of us,” he said.
The problem has been that the 2015 Constitution pegs the number of deputies to the population, thus over the years the number of the Chamber of Deputies positions has been growing.
“The big decisions are going to be in the hands of the PRM that, even with the immense majority that we are going to have in both chambers, I think we will have to try to reach a consensus with the opposition and always take the opposition into account as well,” he said.
Alfredo Pacheco urged all members of the party to accept the recent victory with humility.
“My call is to the leadership of the PRM so that we all assume this triumph with humility,” said Pacheco.
Pacheco also says the time has come to innovate and move on from the D’Hondt formula for choosing deputies. The formula works in favor of majority parties and against emerging leaderships.
Read more in Spanish:
N Digital
El Caribe
Diario Libre
23 May 2024