Mexico: low turnout in referendum to judge ex-presidents for corruption
Polling station for the referendum on the judgment of former presidents, August 1, 2021 in Guadalajara.
AFP - ULISES RUIZ
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Mexico organized Sunday, August 1 the first popular consultation at the national level in its history.
Mexicans call it "
the consultation to judge former presidents
".
It was initiated by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, but above all the consultation created an already marked gap between the supporters and opponents of President "AMLO".
Publicity
Read more
With our correspondent in Mexico,
Antonella Francini
Unsurprisingly, the "yes" won overwhelmingly.
More than 90% of the votes according to the first counts.
But the participation is only 7%.
Very far from the 40% necessary for the consultation to be binding on the government.
The proposed referendum question pointed to five of the predecessors, all right-wing - Carlos Salinas, Ernesto Zedillo, Vicente Fox, Felipe Calderon and Enrique Pena Nieto - whose terms ranged from 1988 to 2018. But the Supreme Court amended it for one. more ambiguous alternative.
The question reads as follows: "
Do you agree or not that relevant actions be taken, in accordance with the constitutional and legal framework, to undertake a process of clarifying the political decisions taken in recent years by political actors, aimed at to guarantee justice and the rights of potential victims?
"
►
To read also: Mexico: a referendum to hold the former presidents to account
AMLO accused of making a political coup
The past few weeks have polarized the country.
For or against consultation.
Understand: for or against the president.
The debates were not about the need to end elite impunity - Mexicans agree on this - but rather on the very usefulness of the consultation.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, self-proclaimed anti-corruption champion, argued that this public consultation would strengthen participatory democracy in Mexico.
Although the ballot was an idea of the Head of State, the country's first leftist president has ruled out voting himself because he does not want “
corrupt and hypocritical conservatism
” to accuse him of retribution.
But his detractors saw it only as a political coup.
In fact, this referendum will not change the law which already allows politicians to be judged at the end of their mandate.
Opponents especially criticize the president for staging his fight against corruption rather than taking concrete actions.
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Mexico
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
Corruption
On the same subject
Reportage
Mexico: a referendum to hold former presidents to account
Mexico: members of a powerful cartel defy the state by posing with their faces uncovered
Mexico: Supreme Court decriminalizes recreational use of cannabis