Lawmakers in Mexico’s lower house of Congress on Wednesday morning approved a sweeping proposal to redesign the entire judiciary, the first step toward transitioning the country to a system in which nearly every judge is elected to office.
The vote goes ahead One of the most far-reaching judicial reforms As in any major democracy in recent decades, tension in Mexico has grown over whether the measures will improve the performance of the country’s courts or politicize the judiciary in favor of the ruling Morena’s party and its allies. In the present system, judges are appointed on the basis of special training and qualifications.
The lower house must now iron out more than 600 details of the bill before it goes to the Senate, where the ruling group is just one seat short of a super majority – although the measure is expected to pass.
On Tuesday, when lawmakers met to discuss the initiative, eight of the Supreme Court’s 11 judges voted to adjourn the rest of the week’s sessions in support of striking judicial staff at the high court, who had started a walkout earlier in the week – joining Hundreds of judicial workers and federal judges throughout Mexico who went on an indefinite strike last month On the proposed changes.
Hoping to delay the vote, striking workers formed a human chain to block access to Mexico’s lower house. But lawmakers turned the venue into a sports complex and went ahead with the debate, which often turned into a tense exchange of accusations.
After an hours-long session that lasted until Wednesday morning, the 359 lawmakers present voted in favor of the overhaul. Only 135 people opposed it.
The results reflect the ruling More’s party Extraordinary influence, which was achieved by landslide victories In the general election in June.
Morena’s members gathered to approve the proposal on the will of the outgoing president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is in the last month of his six-year term. His successor, President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, has fully endorsed the plan.
“We went to the streets, we went to knock on doors, we went to the towns,” Ricardo Monreal, Morena’s leader in the lower house, said during the debate, “and we told the people that if they vote for us, we will vote for them. President López Obrador’s reforms. We will give them Not cheated, we didn’t cheat anyone.”
Mr López Obrador’s plan has sparked recent protests across the country and Has also been at the center of diplomatic controversy with the US ambassador, Ken Salazar, who called it “a major threat to the functioning of Mexico’s democracy”.
The government says the proposed measures – which, among other things, would allow voters to elect nearly all of the country’s 7,000 federal, state and local judges – are needed to modernize the judiciary and restore confidence in a system plagued by corruption, influence and corruption. – Paddling and nepotism.
Many critics of the plan agree that the system needs to be reformed. But they warn that the government’s proposal will do little to rid the judiciary of its problems. Instead, they say it would erode judicial independence and allow Mr López Obrador’s political movement to concentrate power.
“Let’s say it loud and let’s say it clearly,” said Patricia Flores, a lawmaker with the opposition Civil Movement Party, during a debate on Tuesday. “More than judicial reform, this is an act of revenge – because the judiciary is hostile to the president’s decisions.”
Although some countries allow the election of some judges by popular vote — including the United States, Switzerland and Japan — experts say none do so as widely as the proposed changes.
Mexico’s experiment, if approved, would shift the judiciary from an appointment system based largely on legal training and qualifications in which candidates with law degrees and relatively little experience could be elected judges.
“We’re going to see some very bad rulings at the beginning,” said Juan Jesus Garza Onofre, a constitutional law researcher at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. “There will be a learning curve involving the delayed processes that are already underway. They are not going to take over the reins of the court overnight. (Each of the more than 1,600 Mexican federal judges deals, on average, with 19 cases per week.)
Murena lawmaker Hamlet Garcia Almaguer said the bill calls for the creation of committees to evaluate the skills and experience of candidates.
The bill would create a tribunal for judicial discipline, also elected by popular vote, not including Supreme Court justices, with broad powers to investigate, fine and possibly dismiss or impeach. Decisions of the Tribunal shall be final and not subject to appeal.
The tribunal, Mr. García Almaguer said, is necessary because current disciplinary mechanisms have had little effect. “There is a veneer of nepotism and impunity attached to the relationships that exist there,” he added Hundreds of judges and judicial personnel have relatives Works in judiciary.
However, critics of the overhaul say the tribunal or party leaders could pressure judges to make the rulings they want. “This will become an instrument of political persecution,” said Judge Juana Fuentes, a member of the federal judiciary who opposes the plan. They could tell the judges, she said, “You have to rule this way because, look, if you don’t, I’m going to fire you.”
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