Thousands protest in Mexico against judicial reform

Photo: Silvana Flores Agence France-Presse Thousands of people, mostly employees of the judicial administration and law students, took part in a demonstration on Sunday against the judicial reform proposed by outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in Mexico City, on September 8, 2024.

Agence France-Presse in Mexico

Published at 12:34 a.m.

• Americas

Thousands of people, mostly employees of the judicial administration and law students, demonstrated Sunday in Mexico City against a judicial reform that provides for the country's judges and magistrates to be elected by a “popular vote.”

Critics of the reform, which also includes the United States and human rights organizations, say it will undermine the independence of the judiciary by politicizing it and that drug traffickers could more easily control judges by interfering in their election.

The protest was held hours before the Senate debated outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s initiative.

The reform bill was approved by the Senate committee on Sunday night and is due to be presented in plenary session on Tuesday, for a possible vote on Wednesday.

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The text was already adopted on Wednesday by the Chamber of Deputies, where the presidential party and its allies are ultra-majority.

“The judiciary will not fall,” chanted the demonstrators.

The reform provides that judges – including those of the Supreme Court – and magistrates of the country will be elected by a “popular vote”.

The outgoing head of state, whose popularity is around 70%, accuses judges and magistrates of favoring corruption and criminal groups and of being responsible for impunity for more than 90% of crimes committed, according to NGOs.

M. López Obrador, who will hand over power to his party's president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum on October 1, also accuses Supreme Court justices of becoming allies of the opposition, as the top court has stymied some of the reforms the president has proposed in areas such as energy and security.

In a speech published on social media and the Court’s websites, the President of the Court, Norma Piña, denounced on Sunday an attempt to “demolish the judiciary” and called for further debate.

According to her, two proposals formulated on the basis of “the direct experience of those who administer justice” were submitted.

“What are they afraid of, if what we want is to end corruption?,” President López Obrador asked from Tulum, accusing his opponents of wanting to make people believe that the reform would create “instability.”