Well everyone; I have an interesting article translated for you to look at on the efforts of the PRD and
Convergencia (the Convergence Party) to amend the Mexican Constitution to provide for the recall of executives elected for six year terms. This is at
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/375158.html
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The Convergence Party and the PRD will raise "revocatory plebiscite"
They indicate that the initiative, through a citizen consultation, half-way through a six-year term, can decide if the sitting President will maintain himself in power or not
Senators of the PRD and the Convergence Party will present an initiative in the Senate to institute within the Constitution the means of the "revocatory plebiscite," which through a citizen consultation, half-way through a presidential administration, could decide if a sitting President will maintain himself in power or not.
The initiative includes the addition of Article 39 of the Constitution, under which the plebiscite would be carried out after two years of the excercise of the [presidential] mandate and before three years of government are completed.
"At the same time, the revocatory plebiscite could be a legal democratic way out of situations of political crisis in the states of the union and in the country."
According to the text, the plebiscite will be carried out when requested by a number of citizens inscribed in the electoral register, equivalent to 30% of the votes which were obtained by the winning candidate in the corresponding election.
In the case of which a recall is decreed, the Congress of the Union will choose a titled executive as an interim official to call for new elections within 120 days after the plebiscite.
The elected executive will assume his duties three days after the carrying out of the constitutional declaration [of his victory in the election] and will act until concluding the remaining period of the recalled executive's term.
The initiative was signed by the Senate Coordinators of the PRD, Carlos Navarrete, and of the Convergence Party, Dante Delgado, as well as by legislators such as Carlos Sotelo, Rosalindo Lopez, and Pablo Gomez, also of the PRD. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before I make some larger comments, notice the fine print. 30% of the votes a winning candidate received in the previous election is a
very low threshhold to meet. By comparison, here in the U.S., most recall election petitions require something like 30% or 35% of
all votes cast in a previous election. Since Calderon received just over 35% of the total vote, the proposed threshhold amounts to something in the neighborhood of 11.5% of the total vote, which would make a recall ridiculously easy. Second; note that no one is discussing recall plebiscites for legislators, just for executives, which would mean Governors and Presidents. Am I the only one who thinks it is no coincidence that legislators do not want to enable their own recall?
Now; there are two current controversies framing this recall proposal. One is the presidential election. But a second is the crisis in Oaxaca, where I have little doubt that voters would show up and remove Governor Ulises Ruiz from office if given the chance. As shocking as it may sound to all of you I think a recall plebiscite amendment may be a good idea for Mexico, but not with the fine print listed above. I would say 35% of all voters who voted in the previous election and, for the recall of the President, some distribution of recall percentages across Mexico's 32 states (including the Federal District). But the situation in Oaxaca is such that this measure could be quite useful. Though I think absolutely nothing of the protestors in Oaxaca, I probably think even less of its Governor, who is so manifestly corrupt that he is literally willing to sit and watch while everything falls apart just so that he can maintain his own "take" for himself and his cronies. A little Democracy wouldn't hurt. That is the upside here.
But on the downside, notice the quote in the above article; "
the revocatory plebiscite could be a legal democratic way out of situations of political crisis in the states of the union and in the country." This is "Miserification" -- the standard tactic of the Latin American Left -- unmasked and showing its true face. Lopez Obrador and his allies, which includes APPO in Oaxaca, have created the "crisis" in which Mexico now finds itself and, not coincidentally, they offer a solution whose effect will be to increase their own political power. What I hope happens is that the PAN and the PRI take the proposal and revise it to raise the "percentage threshhold" to a reasonable number and extend the recall scope to include legislators. Under that type of system, radical leftists will end up facing recalls as the PAN and PRI parties form coalitions to replace them. They're only a few votes shy of the 2/3 majorities they need in both the lower and upper houses of the Mexican Congress to get it through, so I actually think it's feasible. If they succeed, it would really teach the Left a lesson. And I think the Left needs to be taught a lesson.