The Senate of Mexico. | Photo credit: Reuters
Mexico’s Senate voted on Wednesday (September 11, 2024) to overhaul the country’s judiciary, clearing the biggest hurdle to a controversial constitutional amendment that would require all judges to stand for election, a change that critics fear will politicize the judicial branch and threaten Mexico’s democracy.
The bill was approved by two votes on Tuesday (September 10, 2024) after hundreds of protesters forced their way into the Senate, disrupting the session as it appeared that Morena, the ruling party of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, had mustered the votes needed to pass the proposal.
Last week the bill passed the lower house, where Morena and his allies have a majority. Approval by the Senate was the biggest hurdle and required support from opposition parties.
On Tuesday, a motion came from the conservative opposition National Action Party (PAN), after an MP who had previously taken leave for medical reasons and whose father, a former governor, suggested he would vote for the motion. MPs returned to their seats to put the motion to a final vote.
Both Senate votes were 86-41, with the second result coming in around 4 a.m. The House erupted in cheers and chants of “Yes, we can!”
The bill now needs to be approved by the legislatures of at least 17 of Mexico’s 32 states. The ruling party is believed to have the necessary support after a big win in recent elections. Just hours after the Senate’s approval, Oaxaca’s assembly became the first to approve it.
Newly elected President Claudia SheinbaumPresident Joe Biden, who takes office on October 1, congratulated lawmakers on passing the reform.
The election of judges will “strengthen the process of dispensation of justice in our country,” Ms Sheinbaum wrote on the social media platform X. “Every day the reign of corruption and privilege is being left further and further in the past and a true democracy and true rule of law is being established.”
On Tuesday evening, just hours after the ruling party secured the votes it needed, protesters wielding pipes and chains broke into the Senate chamber and vandalized it. At least one person was knocked unconscious.
The protesters said that the MPs were not listening to their demands.
“The judiciary is not going to fall,” protesters chanted, waving Mexican flags and signs opposing the overhaul. As they chanted in the House, they were joined by several opposition senators. Others outside chanted when newsreaders announced the Senate was recessing.
Among them was Alejandro Navarrete, a 30-year judicial worker who said people like him who work in the courts had come to call on the Senate to scrap the proposal “knowing the danger posed by the reform.”
“They have decided to sell the country and sell themselves for the political capital that was given to them. We felt an obligation to enter the Senate,” he said, carrying a Mexican flag. “Our intention is not violent, our intention was not to hurt them, but we want to make it clear that the Mexican people will not allow them to lead to dictatorship.”
But the Senate reconvened shortly afterwards and resumed debate on the resolution. The initial vote in favour took place shortly after midnight.
The approval came after weeks of protests by judicial staff and law students.
Critics and observers say the plan, under which all judges would be elected, could threaten judicial independence and undermine the system of checks and balances.
López Obrador, a populist who has long been opposed to independent regulatory bodies, undermined courts and attacked judges, says the plan will curb corruption by making it easier to punish judges. Critics say it will weaken the judiciary, pack the courts with judges favored by the president’s party, allow anyone with a law degree to become a judge and even make it easier for politicians and criminals to influence the courts.
That has spooked investors and prompted U.S. ambassador Ken Salazar to call it a “risk” to democracy and an economic threat.
Published – September 11, 2024 09:08 PM IST