Morena vs PRI: how alike are they?

Morena and the PRI land on the same side on nine of 31 comparable statements, and one of them is GM maize, which both voted to ban in 2025. That reform drew 244 votes from Morena and 33 from the PRI. Three more are about social policy: both reject reserving programs for the poorest (the PRI proposes a universal minimum income; Morena, extending benefits to anyone who requests them), neither wants grain prices left to the market alone, and both defend the minimum wage's purchasing power: the PRI wants it always above inflation, and Morena, without setting a yearly rule, wants no backsliding on the gains. The 2024 wage reform got all 36 PRI votes.

They also agree on allowing abortion up to week 12 and on same-sex couples adopting on equal terms. These positions come from general documents: the PRI's founding principles ask that women not be prosecuted for their reproductive choices and that society prevent sexual diversity from turning into discrimination, while Morena speaks of women's right to choose and wants to extend Mexico City's marriage-equality framework to the whole country. The list is completed by the nepotism ban from 2027, which PRI deputies asked to apply immediately, the principle that polluters pay, and a midpoint stance from both on cutting debt at the expense of spending.

Even so, they are on opposite sides on 13 statements, and the average distance between their answers reaches 1.81 points. The disagreements center on how power is designed. On justice they agree on nothing: the PRI's platform opposes having judges chosen at the polls, and its group voted en bloc against shielding constitutional amendments (37 votes) and against the 2025 amparo changes (34). It also defends the mixed system with list-based proportional seats, wants a civilian National Guard, proposes a law guaranteeing the independence of autonomous bodies and accepts Mexican nationality alongside others: in all four cases, Morena is on the other side of the scale.

The economy follows suit. The PRI voted with all 35 of its deputies against raising the 2026 excise on sodas and tobacco, and rejected the General Water Law because, according to its floor leader, farmers could no longer sell or bequeath their titles. It calls for opening energy to private investment, against the preferential role for Pemex and the CFE that Morena defends, and favors public-private cooperation in health. On immunity, though, it is Morena that seeks change: it agrees with removing it, while the PRI does not propose that in its documents and in 2025 backed, with its 33 votes, not lifting a deputy's immunity, as did most of Morena's group.

Nine statements leave one of them in the middle. The PRI abstained on the China tariffs (36 abstentions), a country its platform proposes to stay on friendly terms with, and it wants cheaper campaigns but voted against the reform cutting party funding, which Morena backs without reservation. Morena is neutral on the Afores, whose use for a government fund the PRI's leader called a “heist”, and on marijuana. Fourteen statements with an estimated position are left out, among them full-day schools and channeling programs through states and municipalities: the PRI backs both in its program, but Morena's position on each is estimated.

Three tiebreaker questions, two points or more apart, follow the same pattern. In the 2026 reform cutting the workweek to 40 hours, Morena approved, 247 to 0, the text that keeps a minimum of one day off for every six worked, and the PRI voted against those articles because it wanted two. The caps on municipal councillors and state legislatures got 243 votes from Morena and 36 against from the PRI, which also cast 37 votes against the reform that keeps an amparo against a law from benefiting everyone.