Mexico’s Congress Considers Proposals To Change Election Laws

MEXICO CITY, Sept. 13 — A year after a closely contested presidential election divided this nation, the Congress is moving to revamp electoral laws to rein in negative campaigns and to keep businesses and individuals from trying to influence elections.

The proposed changes to the electoral laws, and charges by some groups that they would lead to a return to the old authoritarian style of government, demonstrate that the deep wounds from last year’s race have yet to heal.

A year ago, President Felipe Calderón eked out a paper-thin victory after running a negative campaign that implied that his opponent, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was a leftist autocrat at heart. Big business also spent lavishly on attack advertisements to stop Mr. López Obrador from coming to power.

“The spine of the reform is to push the power of money out of the electoral struggle in Mexico,” said Senator Carlos Navarrete of Mr. López Obrador’s left-wing Democratic Revolution Party.

Late Wednesday, the Senate approved, by a vote of 111 to 11, a series of constitutional changes that would radically change how Mexico conducts elections. If they become law, the bills would change the structure of the autonomous Federal Electoral Institute, effectively ousting its president, whom many leftists accuse of giving the election to Mr. Calderón by refusing to do a complete recount.

The package of bills now goes to the lower chamber, the House of Deputies. If the bills pass, those measures that would amend the Constitution must then go to the states for ratification. But because the three main parties support the amendments, their ratification is considered likely, political strategists say.

Still, the proposed changes have unleashed a bitter debate in Mexico. Media moguls have denounced a ban on paid political advertising on radio and television as an attack on free speech and have said that it will cut unfairly into their profits, putting some small radio stations out of business. Business groups have called for a referendum on the matter and promised to circulate petitions. Most political advertising in the recent past has been on radio and television.

The embattled president of the electoral institute, Luis Carlos Ugalde, meanwhile, has said Congress is undermining the institute’s independence and jeopardizing Mexico’s inchoate democracy.

Advocates of free speech also have roundly criticized the proposed changes, saying they would give the electoral institute too much control over the public debate and, interpreted strictly, could lead to censorship. Journalists also worry that a provision banning “denigration” of candidates could be used to censor their work.

The deal among the parties came about as part of a legislative trade, and it would benefit the party structures because it consolidates their power. Among other provisions, it bars independent candidates and limits political advertising to established political parties — the three main parties and a few registered smaller parties.

The proposed legislation says that political parties have the obligation “to abstain from using in their political or electoral propaganda denigrating expressions against institutions, against the parties themselves, or that defame people.”

Mr. Calderón’s National Action Party has agreed to support the measure in return for the passage of a tax reform bill that the president desperately needs to raise revenue, lawmakers and political strategists said.

“This is a done deal,” said Sergio Sarmiento, a columnist who opposes the bill. “It’s a trade. It’s a bad law, a return to the authoritarian Mexico of the past.”

Under the proposed measures, all political advertisements would be placed through the electoral institute. The institute would distribute three minutes of free airtime that television and radio stations would be required to reserve for public service announcements among the main parties, saving them millions of dollars.

The electoral institute could bar any spot that denigrates a candidate or party and order broadcasters to stop carrying it.

The proposed legislation also says that, other than established parties, “No other person, public or private, be it on his own behalf or the behalf of others, will be able to contract to broadcast messages on radio and television aimed at influencing the electoral preference of the citizens.”

Last year, Mexico’s main business council blitzed the airwaves with campaign spots warning that Mr. López Obrador was a danger to Mexico and suggesting that people would lose their belongings and savings if he were elected.

One proposal would also create a new position for an auditor within the electoral institute and allow that person to examine the parties’ bank accounts. It would cut spending limits for presidential elections in half and limit campaigning to three months before the vote.

Some political analysts said the proposed changes stemmed from two strong currents in Congress. Leaders of the three main parties want to consolidate their power over the electoral process and keep private industry out of the fray. Leftists, meanwhile, want to avoid the kind of defeat they suffered last year.

José Antonio Crespo, a political scientist and columnist, said that because the parties had a pact, the bills were very likely to become law. The only chance of derailing them would arise if broadcasters put pressure on Mr. Calderón to veto the package. The anger and doubt over the outcome of last year’s contest have given the proposals strong political momentum, Mr. Crespo said.

“It was such a dirty campaign,” he recalled. “It caused so much polarization and rancor.”

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