CDMX’s Brugada Announces Campaign to Increase Participatory Budgeting Participation

ByManuel Cosme

This article by Manuel Cosme originally appeared in the April 6, 2026 edition of El Sol de México.

Clara Brugada , the head of government of Mexico City, announced that she will launch a campaign to help residents participate in the upcoming Citizen Consultation on Participatory Budgeting to be held on Sunday, May 3.

The mayor of the capital city stated that sometimes there is indifference or people do not want to participate in these citizen exercises, they let a few make the decisions and then they get upset about the approved decisions.

El Sol de México previously reported that Tomás Pliego Calvo, Secretary of Citizen Attention and Participation, blamed the Electoral Institute of Mexico City (IECM) for the low participation of people in citizen exercises, since, he criticized, they did not allocate the necessary resources to carry out an intense promotion campaign.

The head of the capital’s government acknowledged the need to strengthen citizen participation , especially regarding the Participatory Budget, which she considered an important proposal, particularly for those neighborhoods that lack public spaces and whose inhabitants do not have the option of allocating resources to have services, safe roads, or better lighting .

However, it established that the municipalities had an increase in resources in order to attend to services and infrastructure and that they must allocate money for this purpose.

“What’s not right is for the mayors to tell the population which areas to improve. The people’s decision must be respected. So, I’m calling on the community, on all citizens, to participate, to get involved in identifying the needs; to create a project and then vote on it,” Brugada Molina urged.

She insisted on respecting the decision of the people who come to participate in the citizen consultation, who promote and make decisions for their community.

The Mexico City Congress approved a Participatory Budget of 2.3 billion pesos; residents proposed a total of 12,427 projects for this year and 10,469 for next year, which will be voted on Sunday, May 3, at the opinion-receiving tables.