On Tuesday, Interior Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez presented the Plan B electoral reform initiative on President Claudia Sheinbaum's instructions. It aims to cut privileges and spending in electoral bodies and local governments after the original constitutional proposal failed in the Chamber of Deputies. It will be sent to the Senate with PT and PVEM support.
The proposal comes after President Claudia Sheinbaum's constitutional electoral reform failed to secure a qualified majority in the Chamber of Deputies. Instead, Plan B focuses on amendments to the General Law of Electoral Institutions and Procedures and the General Law of Political Parties, along with limited constitutional changes, to implement republican austerity and boost citizen participation, as explained by Interior Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez during the People's Conference on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. “The presidential constitutional reform initiative presented today has as its fundamental principle the reduction of privileges and excesses in the exercise of public function,” Rodríguez stated. “We maintain the goal of reducing costs and acting under one of the fundamental principles of the Fourth Transformation, which is republican austerity. It is about having fewer privileges and more citizen participation.”Key measures include: limiting municipal councilors to a maximum of 15 (from 7 onward), with one comptroller per municipality and savings allocated to public infrastructure; a 0.7% budget cap for state congresses relative to expenditure budgets; barring INE, electoral tribunals, and OPLE officials from earning more than the president, while eliminating bonuses, major medical expense insurance, and additional income; progressive Senate spending cut to 15%; and revocation of mandate on the first Sunday of June in the third or fourth year of government.Other changes encompass real-time oversight using technology and agreements with the UIF, salary caps for party leaders (maximum 1,500 UMAs, equivalent to 175,965 pesos), and bans on illicit or foreign funds. The judicial election will remain in 2027 to save costs.Morena has PT and PVEM support in the Senate, totaling 87 senators (67 from Morena, 14 from PVEM, and 6 from PT), facilitating passage. However, opposition figures like PRI leader Alejandro Moreno rejected it as a “watered-down version” and “great farce,” noting it does not address proportional representation seats, party budgets, or Senate numbers, and distracts from issues like security and T-MEC. “This electoral reform was a great farce. Today what is important is to talk about the security situation, the T-MEC renegotiation,” Moreno said.
