Following Mexico’s 2013 constitutional and structural reforms on politics, telecommunications, tax and energy, the next step is to enact detailed regulations governing the respective structural changes brought about by such reforms. In accordance with the principal that if one can achieve a greater thing (reforming the Constitution), then lesser things can certainly be accomplished (enacting the regulations), it was believed that the regulations would move forward without a problem. This is because, despite a few setbacks, the Pact for Mexico has shown the ability of Mexico’s Congress to reach compromises in order to make progress on issues that had been stationary for the past several decades. Nevertheless, not everything involved in implementing the Pact for Mexico has been easy. Some notable examples of progress include: the Mexican federal government’s recovery of the leadership position in education; addressing the monopoly problem in the telecommunications and broadcasting industry; increasing tax collections; and, opening the possibility for private investors to participate in the use and exploration of energy resources. For Mexico’s political parties, the political reform has become the main concern. Such is evident in the current delay in legislating on telecommunications and energy matters, as well as the much criticized transformation of the Federal Electoral Institute (Instituto Federal Electoral, IFE) into the National Electoral Institute (Instituto Nacional Electoral, INE). The establishment of the INE and the new regulations on political jurisdiction theoretically aim to establish uniform voting regulations throughout the country and to avoid electoral disparities. Nevertheless, after much negotiation, it appears the new electoral institution is influenced by partisan ideals and has lost its sense of serving as a civic electoral body. During the upcoming special sessions of Congress, the pending secondary regulations will be discussed, specifically those on politics and energy. In this environment, it is foreseeable that the two major opposition parties, the Political Action Party (PAN) and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), will attempt to obtain advantages. It is likely that the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) will seek an alliance with the PAN on energy and with the PRD on matters such as the pending political reform. The negotiating skills of Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration will be put to the test.
