|
Mexican Senate committees yesterday passed an electoral reform demanded by the opposition, taking Congress a step closer to a bill to open up the oil and gas industry at the centre of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s economic agenda. |
The senate committees worked through reservations to the electoral bill on Monday night and gave it full approval early yesterday, passing it to the floor of the upper chamber.
The electoral reform, which opposition conservatives had made a condition of their backing for the energy bill, would allow lawmakers to serve consecutive terms in office.
The reform also sets out rules for coalition governments and aims to strengthen Congress at the expense of the president.
The last major hurdle to Pena Nieto’s energy reform, the bill will move to the lower house once the Senate gives its approval.
Movement on the electoral plan comes after Mexico’s main leftist party pulled out of a political pact that Pena Nieto’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) forged a year ago with opposition leaders to push through economic reforms.
To reverse almost a decade of declining crude output, Pena Nieto wants to open up the state-controlled oil sector to allow private investors to team up with oil monopoly Pemex and share in profits of exploration and production.
The conservative National Action Party (PAN), the PRI’s natural ally on the energy revamp, is pushing for more lucrative contracts to be offered, such as concessions, and lawmakers say they are exploring options for a deeper reform.
Long the dominant force in Mexican politics, the PRI lacks a majority in Congress and needs PAN support to pass the energy bill, which is expected to happen later this month.