Mexico to allow annulment of elections over foreign interference

Mexico’s Congress has approved a constitutional reform that would allow elections to be annulled if credible evidence of foreign interference influencing the outcome is established, as the country prepares for legislative polls next year.

The amendment, backed by 85 votes in favour and 42 against in the Senate after earlier approval in the lower house, now heads to Mexico’s state legislatures for ratification, a step widely expected to pass, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

The reform has been strongly supported by left-wing President Claudia Sheinbaum and her Morena party, amid heightened tensions with Washington and concerns over external political influence in the region.

“I believe it is the right thing to do. We are the ones who decide here – and when I say ‘we’, I mean the Mexican people,” Sheinbaum said, defending the measure.

The legislation does not name any country directly, but comes against a backdrop of strained relations with the United States, where Donald Trump has accused Mexico of failing to sufficiently tackle drug cartels.

Under the new framework, elections could be invalidated if foreign interference is proven to have affected results. However, critics argue the language is overly broad and could be open to political misuse.

Olga Sánchez Cordero, a lawmaker and former Supreme Court judge from the governing party, warned that the provisions amount to “an open-ended rule that could be applied to a wide range of cases.”

The debate follows high-profile accusations of foreign political involvement across the region, including claims that Trump publicly supported conservative candidate Nasry Asfura in Honduras and backed Argentina’s ruling coalition led by President Javier Milei during recent elections, in some cases linking US financial assistance to electoral outcomes.

By Aghakazim Guliyev