Mexico
Mexican Chamber of Deputies Approves Dual Nationality Ban for Top Offices
Published:
The reform proposed by President Claudia Sheinbaum advances to the Senate, while Sheinbaum defends the measure against opposition criticism.
The Chamber of Deputies approved the constitutional reform that bans individuals with dual nationality from running for the presidency, governorships, and the Head of Government of Mexico City.
On Tuesday, after nearly 11 hours of discussion, the constitutional reform proposed by President Claudia Sheinbaum passed with 334 votes in favor from Morena (the governing party) and its allies—the Labor Party (PT) and the Green Party of Mexico (PVEM)—109 votes against from the National Action Party (PAN), the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and Citizen Movement Party (MC), and one abstention from independent deputy Guadalupe Mendoza Arias.
The reform now passes to the Senate for discussion; if approved, it will be sent to local congresses and must be ratified by at least 17 of the 32 state congresses.
The constitutional reform amends Articles 82, 116, and 122, which establish that in addition to being Mexican by birth and meeting other constitutional requirements, those who seek to run for president must not hold any other nationality, or if they do, must renounce it before applying to register as candidates.
President Claudia Sheinbaum commented on the approval of the reform in the Chamber of Deputies during her morning press conference on Wednesday and pushed back against criticism from the opposition, which alleged that the reform strips rights from Mexicans living abroad:
“Consider a Mexican family that went to the U.S. for work and had children there; those children can acquire Mexican nationality, but they cannot become President of Mexico because they were not born in the country. As for Mexicans who went to the U.S. to work and acquired U.S. citizenship—there is no prohibition against that; they could even hold four nationalities—the issue is if they want to become President of Mexico.”
She went on to say that when someone is president, they pledge allegiance to a people, to a flag, and to history; they do not pledge allegiance to another State.
Imagen: Wikipedia
Voice of Mexico
