PRESIDENT ANDRÉS MANUEL LÓPEZ OBRADOR. AP.
Mexico's Senate has voted to reform the country's National Electoral Institute.
Mexico's president said the changes will save money and reduce political privileges while critics allege that they undermine democracy.
Mexican lawmakers voted 72-50 to approve an overhaul of the body that oversees and regulates Mexico's electoral process.
- The changes will cut the budget of the National Electoral Institute, reduce its headcount, and limit the scope of its supervisory and sanctioning powers.
- President Andrés Manuel López Obrador supported the reforms and is expected to proceed with enacting them.
- The National Electoral Institute responded to Wednesday's vote by tweeting that the Senate's decision “puts at risk the equity and transparency," of Mexico's electoral process.
The National Electoral Institute has played a key role in sustaining Mexico's multi-party system after the country ended the one-party rule of its federal government in 2000.
- Obrador and his supporters have accused the regulatory authority of committing electoral fraud to prevent him from winning Mexico's presidential election in 2006.
