AMLO floats aligning with opposition for reform

Mexico's governing Morena party could ally with opposition parties in the lower house of congress to get the two-thirds majority needed for constitutional change following its losses in the mid-term elections, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.

The right-wing National Action (PAN), centrist Institutional Revolutionary (PRI), and the moderate-left Democratic Revolution (PRD) parties form the main opposition to the Lopez Obrador government. They will hold 181-207 seats out of 500 in the next congress, depending on final allocation, while Morena will hold 190-203 seats, not including those controlled by allies.

"If we wanted to have a qualified majority, two-thirds majority, we could reach an agreement with lawmakers from the PRI, or any other party," the president said today. "We do not need that many more for a constitutional reform."

Morena lawmakers have proposed changing the energy provision in the constitution as well as laws that govern supreme court procedures and the autonomy of institutions such as Mexico's federal bank and election authority.

But the motivation for the PRI to join forces with Morena is unclear, and its leaders responded that they will stay faithful to the opposition block.

"Whoever tries to divide the opposition does not love the country," Alejandro Moreno, president of the PRI party, said today.

The president's party won 34pc of the votes of the congress, far from its intentions of winning two-thirds, or 67pc of the votes that ease the passage of constitutional changes. Morena's share also fell from the 256 seats it won in the in the 2018 election.

With Morena's political allies, the president's political block will likely have roughly 250 of the 500 sets in the lower house. A simple majority is enough to pass the federal budget without negotiations, but does not reach the 334 seats needed to change constitutional laws.

By Sergio Meana