Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador faced massive opposition on Sunday as hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Mexico City’s main square to support the country’s electoral authority.
They claimed the president was trying to undermine the institution before a presidential election in June.
The organizers of the rally said 700,000 people attended, making it one of the biggest protests against Lopez Obrador as his term ends.
The Mexico City government, run by Lopez Obrador’s MORENA party, did not give its estimate.
The rally was one of several in recent years to “protect” the National Electoral Institute, or INE, after Lopez Obrador proposed a series of constitutional changes to Congress, which would include a reform of the INE.
Lopez Obrador openly said the changes were meant to shape the debate before the June 2 vote, in which his likely successor Claudia Sheinbaum is expected to win, but he also said it was unlikely most changes would pass.
One of the changes would transform the INE into the National Institute of Elections and Consultations, which would take control of the local electoral bodies and reduce the number of counselors leading the group. It would also make electoral judges be chosen by popular vote.
“Authorities are seeking to eliminate (autonomous institutions), to subordinate them or take them over,” Lorenzo Cordova, the former head of the INE, told the crowd. “We’ve seen a ferocious attack against these institutions.”
The president has long expressed his dislike of the INE, even blaming the electoral body for his losses when he ran for the presidency in 2006 and 2012.
Protesters on Sunday accused Lopez Obrador of interfering in an attempt to consolidate power in his party’s government, but Lopez Obrador said he would respect the outcome of the election.
Demonstrators also criticized other aspects of Lopez Obrador’s administration, such as what they said was a failure to stop widespread violence and social spending programs.
“The current government is leading us to catastrophe,” Maria de los Angeles Lopez said. “To be afraid of going out on the streets, to be afraid our money will no longer be enough, that is why I came out to protest.”
