(Corrects Gomez' position to electoral reform commission president, not chief of Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), in paragraph 4)
MEXICO CITY, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Wednesday said she will send to Congress next week a bill to reform the electoral law that opponents worry could slash election budgets and open the door for the ruling Morena party to consolidate power in Congress.
The proposal, due to be submitted on Monday, follows her Morena party's overhaul last year of judicial elections, which critics said would jeopardize the rule of law.The bill proposes reducing the budget for electoral processes and political parties. It also calls for establishing direct voting processes for Mexico's plurinominal lawmakers, who currently are assigned to Congress based on each party’s total vote share.
"The total public spending on electoral systems in Mexico continues to be the highest in the world, at 61 billion Mexican pesos ($3.55 billion) annually in 2024," said Pablo Gomez, the head of Mexico's electoral reform commission, in the president's press conference.
The reform looks to cut financing to political parties by a quarter, he said, allow Mexicans livingabroad to choose their own representatives, and limit disinformation and use of bots during campaigns.
The proposal needs the approval of at least two-thirds of each chamber of Congress, creating an uphill battle for Morena unless it can secure support from its allies, the Labor Party and the Green Party, which oppose key points of the bill. The opposition PRI party has said this would undermine the democratic system by eliminating party representation.
($1 = 17.1840 Mexican pesos)
(Reporting by Sarah Morland, Aida Pelaez-Fernandez, Raul Cortes and Lizbeth Diaz, Editing by Daina Beth Solomon)
