Mexico's ruling party edges closer to a majority in both houses of Congress after 2 senators defect

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Following a pair of defections by opposition senators, Mexico’s ruling party said Wednesday it is edging closer to a steamroller two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress.

The ruling Morena party of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said it had won over two senators from the now-defunct Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD. The PRD disappeared as a national party after failing to win a minimum of 3% of the vote in the June 2 elections.

After being awarded a two-thirds majority in the lower house, the Morena party and its allies are now one vote away from a similar majority in the Senate. Those majorities would allow Morena to push through controversial changes to the Constitution.

Those changes include a proposal to force all judges to stand for election, a move that critics say would concentrate power further in the presidency, erase the independence of the judiciary and open it to influence by those who provide cash to fund those election campaigns. The U.S. ambassador to Mexico publicly voiced similar concerns last week.

After days of speculation, President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum — a member of López Obrador's party — said Wednesday that two opposition senators had decided to join the ruling party block in the Senate.

The two senators, Araceli Saucedo and José Sabino, were immediately called traitors by their former allies and fellow party members in the opposition.

“History will judge them as traitors who took part in the attack on democracy,” wrote Xóchitl Gálvez, the former opposition presidential candidate, in her social media accounts.

Social media users also pointedly posted campaign videos of the two in which they had promised not to switch parties prior to the June 2 election.

“Just like you, I'm tired of the same old grasshopper...