The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, affirmed this Thursday that there is a risk of foreign intervention in the country's electoral processes and defended the need to regulate in the law how a possible external interference would be accredited, in the midst of debate on a constitutional reform on the matter.

During her morning press conference, the president maintained that Mexico has faced a history of external financing with political impact and assured that the discussion does not seek to favor the ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena), but rather to guarantee electoral sovereignty.

“Yes, there may be a risk of foreign intervention in the elections in Mexico,” he said.

As an example, the president mentioned the case of the organization Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, which her Government and that of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024) have previously accused of receiving international financing.

“It was demonstrated in the case of Mexicans Against Corruption or for corruption, that they were financed by United States institutions through the embassy that in one way or another supported a candidate,” he stated.

The statements occur after the Mexican Congress approved a reform to include in the Constitution that foreign intervention can be cause to annul elections in Mexico, an issue that has generated criticism from opposition parties, which accuse the ruling party of trying to consolidate political advantages.

"There has been criticism from the opposition saying that it is one more argument from the president or Morena to guarantee power to Morena. There is nothing more false than that," he stated.

The president insisted that electoral sovereignty should be a national consensus and maintained that any regulation must prevent external interference in the country's political decisions.

"All Mexicans should agree with that, that there be no foreign interference in the elections in Mexico. In other words, whoever votes against this proposal seems to be in favor of foreign interference in the elections in Mexico," he expressed.

However, Sheinbaum acknowledged that the main challenge will be to establish clear mechanisms to demonstrate when there was foreign intervention, in order to avoid discretionary interpretations.

“The issue is how you show that there was indeed foreign intervention in an election and that has to be stated in the law very clearly,” he indicated.

Likewise, he explained that, once the constitutional reform is approved, it will be up to the secondary legislation to specify “what are the characteristics that could define that in effect so that it is not something subjective, but rather that it is really demonstrated that there was foreign intervention.” EFE