Alarm at Mexico bill allowing elections to be annulled for ‘foreign interference’

Amid fierce criticism from opposition groups, Mexico’s senate has passed ‌a constitutional amendment to include “foreign interference” as grounds to annul election results in the country.The bill, which was presented by the country’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, defines foreign interference as “illicit financing, propaganda, the systematic ⁠dissemination of misinformation, digital manipulation, and ⁠the intervention of foreign governments ⁠or agencies”.But critics say that the broadness of the bill’s language means virtually anything could be used to annul the results of an election: an article in a British newspaper, a statement from a US official, a report from an international NGO.“This is one of the most egregious, alarming and retrograde pieces of legislation in Mexico’s young democratic history,” said Arturo Sarukhan, a former Mexican ambassador to the US, on X. “This law doesn’t prevent foreign interference. It hands the government a veto over election outcomes it doesn’t like.”The amendment has already been passed by the lower house of congress and now needs to be ratified by a majority of Mexico’s 34 states. Sheinbaum’s Morena controls 24 statehouses.The bill comes as Mexico has faced increased pressure from the US on security, with Donald Trump repeatedly threatening to invade the country and tackle cartels. Last month, the US justice department indicted 10 current and former officials from the state of Sinaloa, including the governor, for ties to a powerful drug-trafficking group.The indictment of Rubén Rocha Moya, the governor of Sinaloa and a close ally of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (known as Amlo), sent shock waves across Mexico’s political establishment. Sheinbaum has called for more evidence from the US before considering extradition.The Mexican president also doubled down on the importance of sovereignty and non-intervention since the indictment was made public.“All Mexicans should agree that there should be no foreign interference in elections in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said at a news conference on Thursday. “We must all agree that in Mexico, we Mexicans decide who governs us.”The bill comes as Mexico faces midterm elections next year, which could see the governing Morena party lose its stranglehold on power: it currently controls the presidency and both the upper and lower chambers of congress.The bill would allow Mexico’s electoral court to toss out election results if it determines there was interference from an overseas organization, a foreign government or citizen. But the court was stripped of its independence under Amlo and is now largely aligned with Morena.“If [Morena] wanted, they could allege foreign intervention and the court would rule in their favor,” said Carlos Bravo Regidor, a political analyst. “The truth is, I don’t see any point in [the bill], any merit, any validity. This is an abuse.”The Mexican opposition has been equally critical of the proposed change.“It’s a trap so that Morena can literally annul any election they want,” Ricardo Anaya, a senator from the opposition Pan party, told reporters. “What they want to ensure is total control.”