This article by Georgina Saldierna and Lilian Hernández appeared in the May 5, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s primary leftist daily newspaper. Mexico Solidarity Media has also produced an English translation of the complete document passed by Morena’s National Council here.
Yesterday, Morena adopted a ban on electoral nepotism and expanded the ethical guidelines that candidates for elected office must follow, with the goal of avoiding internal divisions and ensuring a fair contest.
In short, these are the rules that the membership must observe: what can and cannot be done in the pursuit of public office.
Among the new guidelines, it is prohibited to solicit or receive human, material, or financial resources from business owners, suppliers, media outlets, or any private agent or interest group in exchange for the promise of obtaining benefits from public office or influencing internal party processes or decisions.
The document, unanimously approved by the National Council of the “cherry” party, reiterates the main recommendations made by President Claudia Sheinbaum in a letter sent to the leadership following the scandal involving Senator Andrea Chávez, accused of using private resources to promote her image in advance of the internal process leading up to her candidacy for governor of Chihuahua.
The measure also responds to internal disputes that have arisen in other states due to nominations, as in the case of Coahuila.
The party’s Secretary General, Carolina Rangel, warned that those who fail to comply with these guidelines could be sanctioned with measures including expulsion and disqualification from future candidacy.
The document, titled Guidelines for Ethical Behavior for Representatives, Public Servants, Protagonists of True Change, and Morena Members, consists of five pillars that were outlined by the governors.
Alfonso Durazo, president of the National Council and governor of Sonora, emphasized that this regulation seeks to ensure that those seeking elected office act in strict adherence to rules that ensure Morena remains a political and moral benchmark.
The goal, he explained, is to establish conditions of fairness and healthy internal competition in a clearer, more timely, and transparent manner, and to curb the vices and practices of the past.
Durazo emphasized that it’s legitimate to raise one’s hand within Morena, as there are a significant number of candidates, but what’s not acceptable, he warned, is seeking to grow at the expense of a colleague. It’s legitimate to have aspirations, he added, but it’s not legitimate for those aspirations to turn into an internal conflict.
The guidelines propose prohibiting electoral nepotism. The party leadership explained that this principle has already been applied to the Veracruz and Durango candidacies and will be used in Coahuila’s candidacies next year, as well as in all electoral processes in 2027, although constitutionally the reform will not take effect until 2030. They stated that they will ask allied parties to respect this rule in their coalition nominations.
Meeting at the World Trade Center and attended by nearly all the Morena governors, the presidents of the Senate and House of Representatives, as well as parliamentary coordinators and officials, the councilors approved that anyone aspiring to represent this political force must practice republican austerity as a way of life, conduct themselves with sobriety and without ostentation, and prohibit the use of public resources for personal benefit, first-class air travel, or the use of private aircraft, regardless of the source of the funds spent for that purpose.
Finally, the goal is to promote the construction of a true democracy within the party, in which internal elections are free, authentic, and independent of particular groups or interests. Therefore, it is considered contrary to the principles of the movement to participate in the delivery or promise of payments, gifts, or social programs in exchange for support, votes, or participation in political or campaign events.