Mexico's Electoral Reforms

MEXICAN legislators are working out proposals to change the federal electoral law ahead of the 1994 elections. Key reforms may include limits on campaign financing, equal access to the media, and reforming the federal agency that monitors elections.

The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which has been in control for 64 years, wants a $103 million cap on presidential campaign spending. The opposition wants a $13 million lid. The PRI wants ``gradual reform'' of the Federal Electoral Institute.

The leading opposition parties want to change the way the director of the Electoral Institute is chosen and require he have no party affiliation.

Last week the Mexican Congress approved several other reforms, including a constitutional amendment allowing second-generation Mexicans with at least one Mexican parent and 20 years residency to run for president. But the law won't go into effect until the year 2000, effectively eliminating Vincent Fox Quesada, a popular businessman and strong opposition candidate, from the 1994 elections. Guatemalans protest

About 250 Guatemalans staged a three-hour sit-in inside the National Legislature on Tuesday to support President Ramiro de Leon Carpio's demand that the entire body resign.

The protest is in support of a call by President de Leon in a ``national crusade against corruption'' for the entire 116-member legislature to purge itself by resigning. Although the president has no legal power to enforce the purge, local polls show strong popular backing for it.

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