The referendum and the plebiscite are two mechanisms of so-called direct democracy that have been invented in various societies and are practiced in places such as Switzerland, Finland and some others, where society and society organizations seek popular favor to promote initiatives in front of and through the electorate change the relationship between them and citizens.
The case of the revocation of the mandate is a completely different thing. It is an initiative promoted by the government from the government. It is the president who wants this referendum to take place and, contrary to the name he has, the revocation is not a rethinking of revocation, but the question only gives rise to a single possibility, which is to ratify the president's mandate.
This really doesn't make any sense other than to enhance and promote the president's popularity and mobilize people, probably, in anticipation of future elections; those of this year or those of years after.
The basic point is this: the initiatives of popular democracy, of direct democracy, are designed to be societal. In Mexico, being of the government, what we are doing is simply promoting a governmental cause, for which the president has all the instruments of the world starting with his “mornings”.
Consequently, voting in this referendum, in this revocation of mandate, is a bad idea. It's a bad idea because it's not giving us the option; it's telling us “you either ratify me or ratify me”, and that's not an approach, that's not an option, that's not a desirable or good attractive dissent for the country, for the government or for the future of Mexico.
What matters in these circumstances is to create conditions for us to have mechanisms like these, so that society really begins to participate and be the protagonist of Mexico's development. We have a very important election in 2024, as the classic “Mother of All Battles” would say, why don't we focus on that? why don't we focus on creating conditions for a future that is very different from the one that existed in the past and very different from that which exists at the moment?
* Luis Rubio is President of the Mexican Council of International Affairs and Mexico Evaluates CIDAC
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