Mexico's Senate approves controversial electoral reform package

Mexico's Senate on Wednesday approved an overhaul of the body that oversees the country's elections. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says the reform package will save money and curb the National Electoral Institute's political privileges, but opponents of the initiative, known as "Plan B," said they would challenge it in Mexico's supreme court, arguing the changes undercut democracy. Ahead of the 72-50 vote, some opposition lawmakers held up signs saying López Obrador's ruling Morena party "wants to steal elections." The president has denied the reforms could threaten elections in Mexico, saying the changes were necessary to rein in the institute, which he and his supporters have criticized since he narrowly lost a 2006 election.