MEXICO CITY (AP) Mexico's Senate on Friday passed the most dramatic political reform in decades that would allow re-election of some public officials, create new electoral oversight and make the Attorney General's office independent from the executive.
It is the latest in a series of reforms backed by President Enrique Pena Nieto that have been approved by Mexico's legislature in the last few weeks. The other reforms have targeted Mexico's education system, its state-run oil company, its telecommunications sector and its banking system.
The political reform approved late Friday would relax Mexico's ironclad ban on the re-election of some federal and local legislators and mayors, allowing them to run for office again and remain in the post for up to 12 years. But it would still limit presidents and state governors to single, six-year terms. It also would allow independent candidates to run for public offices.
Allowing re-election of lawmakers and mayors would give political party bosses less control over the future of politicians, and letting independent candidates run would erode the parties' control over elections, observers say.
The final step for the political reform, which was approved by the lower house of Congress earlier this week, is approval by 17 of Mexico's 31 states.