Morena to Establish Admissions Committee

This article by Enrique Méndez appeared in the July 9th, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier leftist daily newspaper.

[Editor’s Note: this announcement follows long-standing criticism of Morena’s practice of recruiting dubious candidates from disgraced political parties above its own membership, criticism which grew louder from within Morena and the Fourth Transformation movement in the previous months, especially after the appointment of ultra-right winger Adrián Rubalcava Suárez to head the Mexico City metro system. We have translated some of the recent critical pieces here, here, here and here. A positive step, but Jeffrey Hermanson asks what happens to all of the less than reputable figures within Morena?]

Mexico City. Morena intends to establish a membership filter and will investigate the backgrounds of members of other parties who seek to register. In its extraordinary session on July 20, it will also reinstate its National Advisory Council, which has not met since 2021 during Mario Delgado’s leadership.

The party today presented the details of the call for the eighth extraordinary session of its National Council, where one of the main topics will be the approval of a National Commission for the Evaluation of Incorporations.

The leadership explained that this is a collegiate body “for evaluating the backgrounds of public figures from political forces other than the movement who intend to join Morena.”

That body will meet when there are requests for membership, he explained.

Morena has received criticism for recruiting figures like Senator Miguel Ángel Yunes Márquez to secure votes for judicial reform, and for not investigating them beforehand rather than afterward, as is currently done with the National Commission on Honesty and Justice.

“Since 2018, there has been a call to join the movement to achieve the necessary strength; today, we are in a different era. We are not a party that keeps its doors closed, but we do need to evaluate carefully. There are subtracted numbers, and the commission can question the additions. Imagine if (Carlos) Salinas wants to join Morena or if (Manlio Fabio) Beltrones raises his hand,” said Luisa María Alcalda.

“It’s not about closing the party or turning it into an organization of elites, but rather evaluating profiles that may or may not contribute to the transformation,” she said.

As part of the call for elections, the approval of a sectional organization plan is planned to form a committee for each of the country’s 71,541 electoral sections, with at least five members per each. This means the goal is to build a grassroots force of at least 357,705 members.

What Morena is seeking is not only to consolidate the movement toward the 2027 midterm elections, but also “the project for future generations.”

In the case of the Advisory Council, its reactivation is planned as an auxiliary body to the leadership and comprised of prominent figures in the intellectual, scientific, and academic fields close to the movement.

The council meeting will be held at the Barceló Hotel on Paseo de la Reforma.