The Va por México alliance, made up of the PAN, PRI and PRD, gave in its “constitutional moratorium” with which it sought not to deal with Morena’s proposal on electoral reform, and today its deputies have participated in a first round of discussions around the initiative.

PRI and PAN lawmakers attended the start of forums with which various initiatives are expected to be harmonized, with the warning that the Va por México alliance will not lend itself to the approval of Morena’s original proposal and of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who plans abolish the National Electoral Institute (INE), create a new national body and abolish the current electoral advisers and magistrates.

To date, 49 initiatives related to electoral reform have been presented, which will be debated in forums for a month.

“We will continue to make our voice and our positions heard on electoral reform, because we want it to be heard clearly and loud and clear in defense of democracy and our institutions, such as the INE or the Electoral Tribunal. However, we want to be clear once again: we will not go for any constitutional reform that aims to weaken the INE and our democracy,” the alliance said in a statement.

He added that while the moratorium “is firm and in force,” the bloc will continue legislative work.

Va por México’s stance represents a shift from Monday night, when PAN, PRI and PRD leaders Marko Cortés, Alejandro Moreno and Jesús Zambrano, respectively, said that none of its parliamentary coordinators would attend the forums of the Chamber of Deputies, as reported Expansion.

Today, however, the Open Parliament brought together PRI caucus leader Rubén Moreira, MP Cristina Ruiz —from the same party— and PAN MP Jorge Triana.

Moreira, also president of the Political Coordination Council (Jucopo), even asked the leaders of the Va por México parties to allow a legislative dialogue on electoral reform.

“Some of us have expressed our position on particular points, and our leaders will always be aware of the responsibility that we have, but our leaders also understand and must help us to have a thorough dialogue here on many other issues and on matters that concern them”. … serve Mexico,” he said.

The parliamentary leader of the PRI added that, during the forums, a “dialectical method” will be followed, in the sense that a counter-proposal will be proposed to each proposal, in order to synthesize the two proposals in the committees.

Moreira’s statement signified a distancing from Va por México’s original position of not entering into discussion of any of the reforms Morena was seeking.

“It will be part of the political task of the parliamentary groups to decide what can be done, I say in the best of plans, to pass a better law and what the political parties, which are fundamental actors in the electoral processes , will they not reach an agreement”, he summed up.

“What we cannot stop doing is fulfilling our legislative mission, which is to dialogue, discuss and resolve in the end,” he concluded.

After Moreira’s statement, Morena’s caucus coordinator Ignacio Mier suggested his party was ready to contrast and integrate the proposals contained in the 49 initiatives.

The Puebla legislator stressed that Morena will follow this “dialectical” method to avoid a repetition of what happened in the case of energy reform, when the majority party tried to crush the opposition without integrating its proposals.

“We are going to change format. Our President of the Political Coordination Council, Rubén Moreira, said it well, it will be a dialectical process (…) Human beings are vain: sometimes, when we leave just for simple logic, we say no to everything, and more so in politics, without reading it, without studying it, without knowing it, it is a mechanical answer, because it is what suits our party, the political parties and the interests of the high bureaucracy of the party, and that does not suit the people,” he said.

“So, before acting logically, we are going to act, better, in a dialectical process, on their merits, the 49 initiatives, on what is positive, without disqualifying any of the 49 to avoid this discourse and in the end they say ‘Hey, but they didn’t include anything in the reform…’. We don’t want the same to happen with electoral reform, because then vanity prevents human beings from recognizing mistakes,” he said.