Political reform again
By Rosa Maria Mirón Lince
Martes, 9 de Febrero de 2010
Judging from declarations of the federal government’s representatives and PAN legislators, it is difficult to understand what the strategy of President Calderón is in relation to political reform, or State reform, that he says he wants to implement.
As is natural, the route to foster State reform from the presidency is that which he took: to present an initiative to one of the Chambers of Congress and wait until the legislators debate and decide whether to approve, change or reject it. On this occasion it was the Chamber of Senators that was chosen, probably because in this body PAN is the primary political force.
In an act of opening debate to society, the Senate undertook an Analysis Seminar on Political Reform. The seminar called on representatives from very diverse social groups to express their opinions and proposals. The co-organizers of the seminar included the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Legal Investigations Institute from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and the Center of Studies for an Alternative National Project headed by Jorge Alcocer, who was heavily involved in the drafting of constitutional reforms, and the Federal Code of Electoral Institutions and Procedures (COFIPE) that was approved a few years ago.
There we heard the positions of well-known national and international academics and officials. Also present were presidents of the national political parties and two governors from each political party. Presentations from leaders of the parliamentary factions and the Governance Secretariat concluded the event.
Thus, representatives from both civil society and the political class were present.
The initiative was evaluated from very diverse angles and many aspects were questioned. In general terms, the speakers and opposition parties, in particular from the PRI and PRD, argued that it seemed to have the gleam of authoritarianism by generating an inequality of powers, as well a initiating a two-party system.
The President didn’t like this, and just a day after the forum concluded, attacked those who participated in the event and who didn’t agree with him, in particular, the political parties.
Calderon said that those who did not agree with his initiative “want a closed system that privileges the party machines under its control and leaves citizens to one side.” From the presidential perspective, political reform cannot be developed, debated and approved under the sole authority of the parties and leaders.
For this reason, Calderon requested that PAN deputies remove the debate from political arenas and take it to the streets, he argued, because society should not only be the beneficiary of reform but also the author of these changes.
This position of President Calderon sounds quite populist and demagogical, but clearly it is not from society as a whole where legal changes can be initiated.
Firstly, simply because citizens do not have the authority to present reform initiatives.
Secondly, because it is experts that can provide an informed opinion and experts were present at this seminar.
In this way, the presidential response sounds more like a tantrum because his political reform was not accepted on his terms. Which, for everyone else, was pretty foreseeable. Indeed, no one in their right mind could expect that the parliamentary opposition would automatically approve the ideas and proposals that the PANistas sought, above all, to strengthen the PAN party.
It seems to me that instead of this ranting against the opposition parties and against the well-known figures that participated in the forum, the President should be celebrating that the response to the initiative has been debate and respectfully accept opinions that differ from his own. The contrary attitude, reflects authoritarianism, that the PAN swears is not what they are promoting.
In any case, the presidential initiative has opened the way so that a series of reform proposals from different parties will be evaluated and hopefully serve to arm a new normative framework that gives space to a renovated and better political system.
It is about time.
Professor of the FCPyS-UNAM, former advisor to the Federal District Electoral Institute.
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