The Mexican Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the last-minute and unilaterals change to Mexico State's electoral codes, known popularly as "Ley Peña" or Peña Nieto's Law," are nonetheless constitutional. The Court didn't have much leeway; earlier, it had ruled that a similar law passed in Guanajuato was indeed legal.
Ley Peña may not breach the constitution, but it certainly does with regards to the spirit of the law: It was introduced, steamrolled by PRI and its allies with no consultation with the opposition, then passed in an amazing hurry in the required 2/3 of Mexico's municipalities. Every single aspect of the law blatantly favors the PRI, and PRD and its allies had also pointed out, in their complaints, massive irregularities in particularly the ratification part of the process, but their arguments were rejected.
The Supreme Court decision is disappointing: Mexico's young democracy, increasingly under attack on the state levels, received no protection from the country's highest constitutional authority.
Governor Enrique Peña Nieto, to be sure, gloated over the decision, arguing with no apparent shame that "it makes it clear that the reform was made by the social representation of the state of Mexico." Please.
