In Mexico’s general election of June 2nd, Claudia Sheinbaum, of current president AMLO’s MORENA party, won handily.
In the same election, the entire Mexican Congress was up for grabs.
MORENA and its coalition also won a majority in both chambers of Congress.
THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES
The lower house is the Cámara de Diputados, the Chamber of Deputies, equivalent to the U.S. House of Representatives. It has 500 representatives, and meets here in the Palacio Legislativo de San Lázaro:
In the Chamber of Deputies, MORENA’s coalition (including MORENA, the Labor Party and the Green Party) won 372 seats out of 500. That’s higher than the 334 seats which would give them a two-thirds super-majority.
THE SENATE
The upper house is the Senado, the Senate, equivalent to the U.S. Senate. It has 128 senators, and meets here:
In the Senate, the MORENA coalition (MORENA, Green Party and Labor Party) won 83 seats out of 128. That’s two seats short of the 85 required for a two-thirds super-majority.
RAMIFICATIONS AND DEVELOPMENTS
It takes a two-thirds super-majority in both houses to amend the Mexican Constitution. In the new Congress, set to take office September 1st, the MORENA coalition has the super-majority in the lower chamber and only lacks two votes to have it in the upper chamber. This gives MORENA, which also has the presidency, great power.
Current president AMLO is not a lame duck and still has things he wants to accomplish. AMLO wants to pass a number of reforms in the month of September, his last month as president and the first month of the new Congress.
With its legislative and executive power, the MORENA party could extend its power even more by taking away power from more independent elements of the government, including the Supreme Court and the INE (the election agency). This is concerning to many.
Apparently, it’s a concern to the markets, as well. Since the election, both Mexico’s stock exchange and the peso have dropped.
The MORENA party, founded by AMLO himself, has only been a registered political party for ten years, since 2014. Now it’s the biggest and most powerful party in Mexico.