The rights of Mexicans abroad have been taken off the legislative agenda: Lorenzo Cordova

Number: 370

• All Mexicans should have access to any kind of vote: Claudia Zavala
• The book “Extraterritorial suffrage for Mexicans” by Victor Espinosa was presented at the Spanish book fair LéaLA

Lorenzo Cordova Vianello, President of the National Electoral Institute (INE), warned that the full exercise of the politico-electoral rights of Mexicans living abroad is an issue that has been left off the legislative agenda.

“The Other Mexico does not appear necessarily on the priority agenda of our country’s public policies, and the policies are still so necessary that we may one day wish to say that all Mexicans are equal in the exercise of our political rights. Complete and functional observance,” he was judged.

During the presentation of the book “Extraterritorial suffrage for Mexicans”. Participation, political preferences and the classification of remote voting”, at the Spanish book fair LéaLA, lamented that during the open parliamentary exercise being conducted in the face of a possible electoral reform, the topic was left out.

He added that the exclusion emerges in light of the contradiction of the large outstanding issues that still exist in a society that exceeds 12 million people, according to estimates, and was unable to fully exercise their rights.

Cordova Vianello even pointed out that one of the main contradictions to be addressed is the existence of an immigrant quota in the Chamber of Deputies that cannot be elected by the community it should represent.

“This should serve as a bedside book for our legislators to deal with the outstanding issues of this electoral issue, rather than trying to reinvent what works and works so well that, even when it can be improved, it works well,” he said.

The different methods of voting must be available inside and outside Mexico

Electoral advisor Claudia Zavala has spoken, noting that Mexicans living abroad will soon be able to exercise their right to vote in three ways: postal, electronic, and face-to-face; However, he reiterated the possibility that any citizen could exercise any of the procedures, including those that are today limited outside the national territory.

It is these kinds of reflections, he added, that allows the book to explode, and even goes so far as to ask whether this restriction is not a way to discriminate against a group of citizens in order to enact political-electoral rights.

The chancellor also welcomed the study published by Victor Espinosa to objectively determine electoral preferences and thanked the fact that the investigation could soon be extended to include extra-territorial voting exercises in recent electoral processes, including in-person voting that will be implemented next year.

“We cannot see the exercise and effectiveness of our rights, especially for those who reside abroad, if we do not see in any social context the major movements occur, especially since it is fear that prevents us from immediately exercising our rights,” he said.

Extraterritorial voting with over 41 experiments at the federal and local levels

Victor Espinosa, the author of the book, highlighted the importance of extraterritorial voting, who already has 41 experience in presidential, federal and local elections, and the phenomenon that this implies among the community.

He added that the book expands objective knowledge of preferences and seeks to be a contribution to knowledge of the nature of the political work of Mexican expatriates to understand the difference with what is happening inside the country.

The writer also took the opportunity to point out that despite the fact that low participation in extraterritorial voting is consistent, the data shows that the information directly influences increased levels of participation.

On his occasion, Rafael Fernández de Castro, Director of the Center for Mexico and the United States Studies, said that the text provides a comprehensive analysis of all federal and local extraterritorial votes, providing a classification of this vote, opposition and non-opposition, which allows us to understand trends simply.

He added that the migration phenomenon is an issue that requires further analysis due to the complexity it represents not only due to the peculiarities of each country, but also due to the different needs that they face even in the places in which they settle.

Supervising the editorial presentation, INE’s Executive Secretary Edmundo Jacopo Molina highlighted the goal of the INE editorial brand in order to fill in the gaps not covered by brands.

He said that for this reason the institution sought to select texts that contribute to the discussion of public policies and, in this case, to the required electoral procedures.

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