Sheinbaum’s re-election ban takes Mexican politics back to the future
President Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico City in February 2025. Image credit: ZUMA Press / Alamy.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has sent Congress a proposal banning the re-election of federal and local lawmakers, along with municipal authorities. Another measure would ban nepotism in office. If passed, both take effect in 2030. Sheinbaum’s move comes after her deal with Donald Trump to briefly pause tariffs, and the international press attention that came with it. But for Mexico’s democracy, which is being challenged by Sheinbaum’s Morena Party on multiple fronts, the proposed re-election ban erects another hurdle to accountability. For that reason, it’s no less consequential than Sheinbaum’s tussle with Trump.
Sheinbaum framed the measures as an anti-corruption reform. She also tied them explicitly to Mexico’s 1917 Constitution by making the announcement on Constitution Day. In her speech, she said the country began to sever its connection to the Constitution from 1982 onwards. These reforms, according to the President, are a part of Morena’s broader efforts to reconnect with it.
Immediate re-election for lawmakers was only introduced under former President Enrique Peña Nieto in 2014. Even then, strict term limits remained. So, the immediate re-election of lawmakers is a new experiment in Mexican politics. Maybe too new to even judge its full impact.
Still, Sheinbaum’s argument that banning re-election strengthens democracy is tenuous. Few democracies do this. Pairing the measure with a so-called nepotism ban sounds good but doesn’t materially move the dial. That’s because her nepotism proposal narrowly defines the issue as family members replacing each other in the same role. But corruption isn’t just about blood ties. Power networks, backroom deals, and party patronage don’t disappear with that proposed rule change.
Sheinbaum’s proposal does align with Mexico’s revolutionary past. But she’s playing loose with that history. It’s true the 1917 Constitution prohibited lawmakers’ immediate re-election. But the key date here isn’t 1917, it’s 1934. That’s whenLazaro Cardenas weaponized the prohibition to consolidate control over the National Revolutionary Party, which became the PRI. That’s the real precedent.
Fernando Dworak, a legislative expert who advocated for the reforms advanced by Peña Nieto in 2014, calls Sheinbaum’s proposal a throwback to the PRI era. “It’s sad to see Sheinbaum trying to return to the previous status quo with the same myths and lies the PRI used,” he says.
Dworak acknowledges Mexico’s system isn’t perfect and needs further reform and improvement. He sees opportunities to boost accountability. These could include changes to how political parties choose candidates. Other measures could look at increasing competitiveness in congressional seats allocated by proportional representation, and reducing (or illuminating altogether) the number of candidacies able to compete on both congressional ballots. Doing so could strengthen the link between lawmakers and the public. But Sheinbaum’s approach weakens that link, encouraging the kind of power rotation that was a hallmark of the PRI. Critics of Sheinbaum’s Morena Party have long accused it of trying to rebuild the PRI’s hegemonic model.
And then there’s the question of who benefits. Morena’s biggest nepotism case? Andrés Manuel López Beltrán, son of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. He’s the party’s General Secretary. The Associated Press notes that under Sheinbaum’s anti-nepotism rule, he’d still be free to run for president, should he wish to. That’s because the rule only applies to immediate succession.
Banning re-election weakens institutional memory and disrupts policy continuity. Without their own voter bases, lawmakers become beholden to those who control nominations. Under the PRI, that meant the President. Under Morena? Well, it’s looking more and more like the same story but with a new cast.
Nevertheless, the proposals have supporters. Sheinbaum ran on this initiative in 2024. On Wednesday, the National Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism in Mexico City announced its support for the reforms. The Chamber’s President points to nepotism as a persistent problem in Mexico’s public administration. He’s right. The question is whether this is an effective gesture to address the root causes of the issue. The narrow wording of the initiative on nepotism combined with the historic reality of re-election bans under the PRI provide ample reason for skepticism.
Trump’s trade war threats briefly shifted attention away from Morena’s consolidation of power in Mexico. Sheinbaum has earned cross-party praise for so far deftly managing Trump’s unpredictability. She has an opportunity to capitalize on that good will. She could use it to kickstart a forward-looking conversation around electoral reform based on a shared vision for the country’s future. These proposals ignore that opportunity. Mexico is in urgent need of greater accountability in its politics. As currently framed, these proposals are another step away from that accountability.