World
Mexico successfully pushes through judicial reform despite facing opposition from the Senate
The chamber’s approval clears away the last major hindrance to the sweeping proposals championed by the president, which have prompted nationwide strikes.
Updated 2024-Oct-07 04:00
Mexico successfully pushes through judicial reform despite facing opposition from the Senate.
Others believe that the current proposal would worsen the issues of corruption that the government is working to eradicate.
Norma Piña the chief justice of the Supreme Court stated during a televised message on Sunday that dismantling the judiciary is not the right path to take.
She offered an alternative plan to overhaul the system which involves enhancing transparency in selecting judges implementing independent disciplinary measures empowering local courts and upgrading state prosecutors offices.
However experts noted that the judiciary s response was delayed. This reform is significant and will be remembered as historic.
During Tuesday s debate Morena senator Ernestina Godoy Ramos stated that it will alter the perception and understanding of the judiciary.
Everyone has a stake in justice. Research from Mexico City was provided by Miriam Castillo. Certain specialists believe that it will require years to fully comprehend the consequences of the legislation.
A lawyer and political analyst Vanessa Romero Rocha referred to the president s proposition as an experiment stating that the outcome of the reform will need to be assessed in a few years due to lack of prior examples.
Mexico’s Senate on Wednesday narrowly passed a sweeping proposal to revamp the judiciary system effectively clearing the last major obstacle to a measure that the country’s president had vowed to push through before stepping down at the end of this month.
The result reflects the exceptional sway of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico and his party after his allies won large legislative majorities in June enabling them to pass some of the Mexican leader’s most contentious and far reaching proposals in his final weeks in office.
The measure would shift the judiciary from an appointment based system largely grounded in training and qualifications to one where voters elect judges and there are few requirements to run and it would remove 7 000 judges from their jobs from the chief justice of the Supreme Court down to those at local courts.
The bill already passed in the lower house of Congress last week during a marathon session. It will now go to the state legislatures where it will need a majority to be enacted into law.
Mr. López Obrador’s governing Morena party and its allies control 25 of 32 state legislatures so it is expected to be approved with ease.
When that happens voters could start electing thousands of federal state and local judges as soon as next year.
The debate which started on Tuesday was temporarily suspended after a group of protesters megaphones and Mexican flags in hand barged into the Senate building calling on senators to block the overhaul.
Protesters followed the lawmakers to another venue where an opposition senator was assaulted when someone threw gasoline on his face.
Police officers later dispersed demonstrations using fire extinguishers. After a heated session in which legislators accused each other of being traitors and liars 86 senators approved the bill and 41 voted against it.
The Senate must still resolve several disputed provisions in the bill before it can go to the state legislatures.
In my opinion the president s primary goal is to eliminate long standing judges who are highly corrupt.
Recently there have been demonstrations and work stoppages nationwide in response to the suggested alterations.
Judicial workers and their supporters have planned sit ins to obstruct entry to the lower house of Congress and the Senate.
Additionally individuals have rallied in the streets to support the reform. According to Mexico s chamber of commerce over half of the country s executives are in favor of the suggestion.
Polls conducted by Morena show that approximately 80 percent of respondents believe renovating.
