Protesters shutdown Assembly building

Demonstrators closed the Assembly building on Monday morning to protest against the extension of the next gubernatorial term from two to five years.

La Voz newspaper said protesters only closed the main entrance of the legislative facilities.

Activist Filiberto Sánchez, a member of the resistance movement, told the newspaper the protesters will forbid lawmakers from entering the facilities.

Incoming Assembly members will take the oath of office and begin the legislative session Aug. 1.

Demonstration participants also demand the cancellation of the Constellation Brands Brewery and the private-public partnerships.

In Mexico City, Congress Speaker Porfirio Muñoz opened the discussion to the potential disappearance of powers in Baja California or the filing of a Constitutional lawsuit against the state Assembly after voting last week almost unanimously to extend Gov.-elect Jaime Bonilla’s term.

The disappearance of powers is a legal process whereby the Mexican Senate may intervene over the sovereignty of a state to designate new powers to replace those disappeared. The disappearance of powers is an exclusive power of the Senate as outlined in Article 76 of the Mexican constitution.

Muñoz said the disappearance of powers would forbid Bonilla from taking the oath of office for the violation of the nation’s constitution, which allows Congress to take such measures when local elected officials to stay in office beyond the legally allowed term.

Disappearance of powers has only been approved once in Mexico’s recent history, in the state of Hidalgo.

Other Mexican lawmakers expressed their support of Muñoz’s proposal.

In the meantime, former Democratic Revolution Party gubernatorial candidate Jaime Martínez posted documents on social media from the Fair Political Practices Commission of California that indicate Bonilla had kept his Otay Water District candidate registration active as of 2016, which prohibits him from running for office or occupying elected office.