Protesters invade Mexican Senate, force reform debate

Demonstrators protest against the judicial reform proposed by the government in Mexico City.

Mexico City:

Crowds of protesters stormed Mexico’s Senate on Tuesday, forcing lawmakers to suspend debate on controversial proposals by outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to let voters elect judges.

The judicial reform plan, which experts say would make Mexico the only country in the world where all judges are elected, has sparked mass demonstrations, diplomatic tensions and investor concerns.

Senate President Gerardo Fernandez Norona issued an “indefinite suspension” after protesters entered the building. Television footage showed a crowd of protesters in the upper house’s chamber.

Members of the House of Lords began debating the proposals on Tuesday, ahead of a vote expected to take place later in the day or on Wednesday.

Lopez Obrador, who wants the bill passed before he is replaced by his close ally Claudia Sheinbaum on October 1, argues that the courts under the current system serve the interests of the political and economic elite. He calls the judiciary “rotten,” corrupt and full of nepotism.

“What worries those who oppose this reform the most is that they will lose their privileges, because the judiciary is at the service of the powerful, at the service of white-collar crime,” the leftist leader said at a news conference.

Opponents, including court staff and law students, have held a series of protests against the plan, which would see even Supreme Court and other senior judges, as well as local-level judges, elected by popular vote.

Sitting judges would have to run for office in 2025 or 2027.

“This does not exist in any other country,” said Margaret Satterthwaite, United Nations special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers.

“In some countries, like the US, some state judges are elected, and in others, like Bolivia, high-ranking judges are elected. If this reform is adopted, Mexico will be in a unique position in terms of the method of judicial selection,” she told AFP.

– ‘Demolition of the judiciary’ –
In an unusual public warning, Supreme Court Chief Justice Norma Pina said elected judges could be more vulnerable to pressure from criminals in a country where powerful drug cartels regularly use bribery and intimidation to influence officials.

“Dismantling the judiciary is not the way forward,” she said in a video released Sunday.

Pina said last week that the Supreme Court would discuss whether it has jurisdiction to stop the reforms, though Lopez Obrador has said there is no legal basis to do so.

The reforms were passed last week in the lower house by ruling party lawmakers and their allies, who were forced to gather in a sports centre after protesters blocked access to Congress.

In the Upper House, the governing coalition falls one seat short of the 86 votes needed to amend the constitution.

In a move that could tip the balance in favour of the ruling coalition, an opposition senator was exempted on health grounds and replaced by his father, prompting cries in the chamber about a ‘traitor’.

– ‘Dangerous proposals’ –
The United States, Mexico’s top trading partner, has warned that the reforms threaten a relationship that depends on investor confidence in Mexico’s legal framework.

The changes could pose a “grave risk” to Mexico’s democracy and allow criminals to “exploit politically motivated and inexperienced judges,” U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar said last month.

Satterthwaite also expressed “deep concern” about the plan, calling access to an independent and impartial judiciary “a human right that is essential for protecting rights and preventing abuse of power.”

“Without strong safeguards against infiltration by organised crime (in the judicial selection process), an electoral system can become vulnerable to such powerful forces,” she warned.

Human Rights Watch has called on lawmakers to reject the “dangerous proposals,” which it said would “seriously undermine the independence of the judiciary and violate international human rights standards.”

Financial market analysts say investor concerns about the reforms have contributed to a sharp decline in the value of Mexico’s currency, the peso, which has fallen to a two-year low against the dollar.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)