Consulting citizens, practicing direct democracy: INE الديمقراطية

Mexico City.

INE advisor Yock Cape Espadas declared that consultation is an exercise in direct democracy, and cannot be a political circus.

In an interview with Yuriria Sierra, for Imagen Noticias, he stressed that the citizen’s exercise on August 1st “is of great political importance because it is the first time in the history of Mexico that a popular consultation has been held, at a national level, on the basis of the rules and laws that have been approved by Congress, that is, it is a consultation with full legal support that has been formally conducted, and therefore it is the first time that the National Elections Institute has developed a consultation of this size and of course it will be the first time that the consultation has all the formalities that characterize the formal processes that the Institute is developing.”

The chancellor emphasized that conducting direct democracy was a long-standing requirement in Mexican politics.

Citizens for decades have claimed these mechanisms exist and that August 1 will be the first time a public consultation has taken place.

He clarified that the advisory did not mean that former presidents were actually subject to prosecution.

The focus of the query is not on any person or group of people. Consultations about what is being consulted focus on clarifying policy decisions in the past. That is, what is decided, why is it decided, who decides it, what is the scope. This includes a variety of processes and of course includes a wide variety of actors, but it is not a question directed at any person, or group of people in particular.”

Uuc-Kib Espadas reiterated the question that will be on the ballot paper: “Do you agree or not that the relevant actions should be carried out in accordance with the constitutional and legal framework, to undertake the process of clarifying the political decisions taken in the years endorsed by political actors, with a view to ensuring justice and the rights of potential victims?” .

He pointed out that the consultations go further in proving the condemnation of this or that decision and highlighted its usefulness.

I see a broader spectrum in consultation. That is, when we talk about clarifying political decisions, I, for example, want to know who made the government’s decision to suppress 1968 or Saqr in 1971. These are things that should be clarified, in my opinion, that the law does not need to be clarified, and the relevant political decision makers may not be alive at the time. the present. We want to put an end to these things that happened in the past, and decisions that were made in the past, so it would be appropriate not to continue investigating them.”

He specified that the consultation had the risk of not having legal repercussions: “This is a risk that exists in any popular consultation, that is, for the consultation to be valid according to the laws of Mexico there must be at least 40 percent of those registered to vote. That is, with the current record, what Nearly 37 million people,” he admitted.

Confidence in citizen participation was said on August 1.

It is social and civic mobilization of a new kind. The proximity to the elections makes me optimistic in terms of educating citizens about political issues and that this may be a motivator for more people to go to the polls to express their opinions.”

Finally, he decided that no one could force people to go to the polls.

It is the citizens who will have to fit this democratic practice which is very important to point out, just as it has been a requirement for decades, it is also true that in Mexico we do not have the practice of using these tools. This is a great opportunity for citizens to begin exercising these new democratic mechanisms and a new way of making their decisions up to the state. In this sense, it seems to me that regardless of the question it is a practice of great importance.”