Protests erupt in Mexico as large masses gather against electoral reform

• Massive throngs gathered at Mexico City’s famous Zocalo Plaza on Sunday.
• 500,000 people marched on the city’s main square.
• The local administration estimated the figure to be 90,000.

Mexico: Massive protests have taken place in numerous Mexican cities in response to what demonstrators claim are government tactics to discredit election authority.

The largest occurred in Mexico City, where 500,000 people marched on the city’s main square, according to organizers. The local administration estimated the figure to be 90,000.

This week, lawmakers agreed to reduce the National Electoral Institute’s (INE) funding and employees.

The INE is politicized, according to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Opponents, however, see the latest vote as an assault on democracy itself and are urging the Supreme Court to invalidate it as illegal.

Massive throngs gathered at Mexico City’s famous Zocalo Plaza on Sunday. Demonstrators poured into adjacent streets in the city center.

“We’re fighting to defend our democracy,” A protestor said.

The revisions were passed by Mexico’s Senate on Wednesday, following a similar decision in the lower chamber of parliament. The measures will go into effect once President López Obrador signs them.

Mr. López Obrador, who was elected in July 2018 after two previous failed efforts, has long been critical of the INE, the organization in charge of elections.

Last month, he accused the independent body of cheating, and said its staff turned a blind eye to “the stuffing of ballot boxes, fabrication of [election] records and vote buying”.

In his first run for president, in 2006, he was defeated by conservative candidate Felipe Calderón by less than one percentage point. Mr. López Obrador refused to recognize the vote, which he called fraudulent, for months.

He also contested the outcome of the 2012 election, in which he was defeated by Enrique Pea Nieto.

Mr. López Obrador has been advocating for a reform of the INE that he claims will save taxpayers $150 million (£125 million) each year by dramatically decreasing the agency’s employees.

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