After weeks of protests, Mexico’s judicial system has been overhauled. The government is hailing it as a major step against corruption, while critics fear it will undermine the independence of judges.
At 3:55 a.m., the Mexico City Senate voted 86 to 41 to approve a judicial reform bill. A majority of senators voted that all judges in the country should be eligible for future elections. Outgoing left-wing populist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of the Morena party, pushed ahead with his pet project just before he leaves office on October 1.
The meeting had to take a forced recess the night before. Protesters stormed the Senate building. “Justice will not be defeated,” they chanted. For weeks, judicial staff and students had been protesting against a judicial reform that would have required all federal judges to be elected directly by the people.
Are you serving the elite?
Critics see this as a threat to the independence of the judiciary, with concerns that the election of judges by the people would give organized crime, which controls much of the country, greater influence over the judiciary.
López Obrador defended the reforms as an important step against corruption at a news conference the morning after the vote. “What worries those who oppose this reform the most is that they will lose their privileges,” he said, because the judiciary currently serves the powerful and economic crimes.
“There are ministers who depend on the biggest economic powers in the country, and they don’t want the rule of law. They want to maintain clientelism and corruption,” López Obrador said. Supporters argue that the judicial system has so far served the political and economic elite, and organized crime, not the people.
Opposition senator switches sides
In the past few days, three senators have changed their stance. This was the only way for the government alliance led by Morena to secure a sufficient majority in the Senate. One of them is Ángel Yunes Márquez, the son of a former governor of Veracruz from the right-wing PAN.
“I know this reform is not the best, but I also know that the resulting second law gives us a chance to complete the reform,” he said, justifying his decision amid loud jeers. “So I’ve made probably the most serious decision of my life: to vote for a new model of justice.”
In Veracruz state, which is ruled by the ruling Morena party, several trials are pending against Yunes and his father. There is speculation in the opposition that these proceedings may now be suspended.
“Radical decision”
Mexican political scientist Carlos Pérez Ricard criticizes the judicial reform for not solving real problems. “This is a radical decision that has no parallel in the world. It is a decision that will impose additional operational, financial and economic problems on the country.”
The complex elections scheduled for next year and 2027 are a case in point. Pérez Ricart says there is a lack of transparency in the judiciary, but reforms won’t solve that problem. “There is no reason to believe that we will have better judges, better prepared judges, more dedicated judges than we have now. On the contrary, everything seems to indicate that we will lose professionalism over the years.”
The reforms will need to be ratified by 17 of Mexico’s 32 state legislatures to become law. The ruling Morena party is likely to have the support needed to do so. The southern state of Oaxaca has already passed the reforms.
