Mexico’s ruling Morena party has moved within one seat of a two-thirds majority in the Senate after two opposition senators from the now-defunct PRD defected, according to AP.
The shift is politically significant because it gives President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s party and its allies enough strength in the lower house already, and potentially similar control in the upper chamber, to push major constitutional changes. AP said the bloc is now one vote short of a supermajority in the Senate.
The senators named in the report were Araceli Saucedo and José Sabino. Their decision was quickly denounced by opposition figures, who accused them of betraying voters and crossing the line after campaigning on the opposite promise.
That reaction was not just rhetorical. The defections landed in a period of intense debate over what Morena plans to do with its legislative power, particularly on judicial reform. AP said one proposal under discussion would force all judges to stand for election, a move critics argue would weaken judicial independence and concentrate power in the presidency.
The report also noted that the US ambassador to Mexico had voiced concern about the direction of the reform push. That is important because the argument is no longer confined to domestic politics: the shape of Mexico’s courts and constitutional order has become a matter of external scrutiny as well.
The PRD’s disappearance as a national party after failing to win enough votes in the June 2 election is another part of the story. The defections are not merely about two lawmakers changing labels; they are a sign of how Mexico’s party system is being rearranged after the election, with the old opposition fragmenting and Morena consolidating power.
AP also said Morena named Gerardo Fernández Noroña to lead the Senate and Adán Augusto López to lead the lower house, underscoring that the party’s next phase is about control of procedure as much as policy. Leadership positions matter in legislative systems because they shape the pace and tone of reform.
For critics, the concern is that this is how constitutional change happens: not through a single dramatic vote, but through a steady accumulation of seats, procedural authority and defections from a weakened opposition. For Morena, the argument is that its electoral mandate justifies sweeping change.
The immediate reality is simpler. The ruling coalition is very close to the threshold it wants, and the two senators’ move may prove decisive. AP’s report makes clear that the Senate arithmetic is now one vote away from unlocking a far broader constitutional agenda.
