Judicial reform, almost complete

MEXICO CITY (AP and El Universal).— President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is preparing to enact the controversial constitutional reform that will restructure the judiciary and make all judges elected in elections, given that the majority of Mexico’s 32 states have already ratified the initiative.

The president said he expects it to be published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on Sunday, coinciding with Mexico’s Independence Day, thereby achieving his goal of leaving it as a legacy. His term ends on September 30.

By law, any change to the Constitution must be ratified by 17 of the 32 states before it can come into effect. As of Thursday, 20 states had already done so, including Mexico City.

The legislative process of the controversial initiative, whose critics fear it will politicize justice and endanger democracy, ended early Wednesday morning with its approval in the Senate. The ruling party obtained the only vote it was missing thanks to an opposition legislator and after a very turbulent session that included the irruption of protesters in the plenary session, the change of venue of the session and accusations of inducing the vote.

The senator who changed his vote, Miguel Ángel Yunes Márquez, of the National Action Party (PAN), was expelled from that opposition organization along with his father —and alternate in the Senate— former governor Miguel Ángel Yunes Márquez and another local deputy who also supported the initiative, for “betraying Mexico.”

The PAN also announced that it will challenge the reform before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN). The high court, which joined the strike of judges and judicial workers in protest against the measure, indicated yesterday in a statement that it will resume activities on Tuesday.

There are legal challenges against the proposal due to irregularities in its legislative process – which critics have described as totally undemocratic – but several experts believe it is difficult for its implementation to be stopped.

One possibility is that it may be contested for contradicting international agreements or treaties signed by Mexico and in which the Mexican State commits to having impartial and independent justice.

President López Obrador, who has had fierce clashes with the judiciary because the courts blocked or paralyzed some of his major reforms, says the reform will end corruption by making it easier to punish judges.

But critics, including the US and Canadian governments, argue the reform jeopardizes judicial independence and deals a severe blow to the government’s system of checks and balances and will create uncertainty among investors.

They also believe that it will fill the courts with judges who are aligned with the party in power, allow people with little experience to become judges and could make it easier for politicians and criminals to influence judicial decisions.

The judicial reform is the first of a series planned by the president, which also includes other highly controversial reforms such as the elimination of autonomous bodies that acted as a counterweight to the executive.

Opposition will be absent

Opposition legislators (PAN, PRI and Movimiento Ciudadano) decided that they will not attend the sessions of Congress to issue the declaration of constitutional reform derived from the judicial reform.

Leaders of the opposition parties claim that during the process of approving the reform “they were not listened to and there were flaws.”

Guadalupe Murguía, coordinator of the National Action Party senators, said that “they will not participate because they consider that the approval was illegal and illegitimate.”

Both the PRI and MC issued statements in which they decided not to attend the session. The Institutional Revolutionary Party ended its letter by saying that they “will continue to fight.”