Morena warned that she will give “face and name” to the “sells homelands” ahead of the elections on June 5

After Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador did not win enough votes on Sunday night to pass a constitutional reform that limits private and foreign companies in the electric power industry, the leader of his Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) party leader Mario Delgado, he said: “I don't think we failed.”

The lower house of Congress voted 275 to 223 in favor of the measure, but the result fell far short of the 333 votes needed for constitutional changes. This Sunday's debate began with almost all 500 Members present. The ruling party and its allies needed a two-thirds majority to pass constitutional reform.

Given the atmosphere, López Obrador's Morena party could not win over a significant number of opposition legislators.

Detractors pointed out that the reform would affect investors and their confidence in Mexico. Companies could have sought precautionary measures in court and the US government could have complained about a free trade agreement and then imposed countervailing tariffs on Mexican products.

This Monday, López Obrador called opposition congressmen who voted against the reform traitors, claiming that foreign firms “bought the legislators.”

Delgado later spoke in the same direction. “The decision taken by the PAN, PRI, PRD and Movimiento Ciudadano, to betray Mexico, to sell itself to the interests of foreigners. There is a miscalculation that they made yesterday: you can no longer betray your country without people realizing it. We are sure that the people of Mexico will call them to (render) accountable, sooner than we imagine.”

He also called on the legislators of Morena who are in districts where elections will soon be held “to inform the people what the legislators' vendepatrias' did so that on June 5 people will also consider that when voting.”

“We are sure that people will not allow the conservatives to continue to advance,” said the Morenista leader, “it is our sovereignty that will advance, it is our movement.”

For her part, the Secretary General of Morena, Citlalli Hernández, pointed out that what they have now decided as a party is to “continue in this campaign in defense of national sovereignty, to report what the opposition parties voted against, to report with their faces, surnames, faces and parties in each district that the deputies who had to having represented that sector of the population betrayed the homeland”.

“The opposition yesterday not only betrayed the homeland, but believes it had a victory,” indicating that although they did not get enough votes this Sunday to make President López Obrador's electric initiative pass, “we will continue to fight for sovereignty.”

The Morenista assured that the opposition parties will lose the states that still govern, insisting that if they “want to keep these legislative victories there, they are not understanding the moment in which our country is living.”

The electricity reform seeks to limit foreign-built renewable power plants and ensure that at least 54% of electricity is purchased from government-owned power plants, which are dirtier. Private and foreign companies, which have built natural gas and wind power plants, would have been allowed to keep up to 46% of the market.

The reforms would have negated much of the market opening in power generation carried out by its predecessor in 2013, but they also caused concern among US officials and companies.

The vote marked one of the few legislative setbacks that López Obrador has suffered since he took office at the end of 2018.

“Yesterday, an act of treason against Mexico was committed by a group of legislators who, instead of defending the interests of the nation's people, instead of defending the public, became frank defenders of foreign companies. They dedicate themselves to prosper, to steal and these deputies backed them to the looters,” said López Obrador.

Alejandro Moreno, leader of the former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, replied “they are the traitors of the homeland and they have not solved security problems and have abandoned women”, referring to the increase in femicides in Mexico.

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