During a tumultuous session, with arguments between senators, accusations against the Executive and even a change of voting location, the Mexican Senate approved in the early hours of Wednesday (11) the contested judicial reform proposed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, which stipulates that judges be chosen by popular vote.
The project, which had been presented by the leftist leader in February and approved last week in the Chamber of Deputies, had 86 votes in favor, including one from the opposition, and 41 against.
The “traitor” vote was from Senator Miguel Ángel Yunes Márquez, from the opposition National Action Party (PAN), who had previously positioned himself against the proposal, according to information from the Associated Press agency.
On Tuesday (10), protesters against the project invaded the plenary of the Mexican Senate, which made the president of the house, Gerardo Fernández Noroña, transfer the session to the Xicotencátl mansion, former headquarters of the upper house.
The opposition alleged on Tuesday that some of its senators and relatives were arrested or pressured by police authorities in states governed by Obrador’s political group not to vote on Wednesday, according to reports in Spanish newspaper El País.
The project foresees two elections with popular vote to renew positions in the Mexican Judiciary, the first of which will be in June 2025.
The proposal also foresees reducing the number of Supreme Court ministers from 11 to nine and reducing their term from 15 to 12 years, among other points.
On Wednesday morning, Obrador celebrated the approval of the reform. “We will make great progress when the people, freely, the people of Mexico, elect the judges, the magistrates, the ministers.” [da Suprema Corte]I believe that we will move forward in Mexico and we will set an example for the world,” he said during a press conference.
The move is seen by the Mexican opposition and press as retaliation by Obrador against the judiciary after defeats he has suffered in court. In March last year, the country’s Supreme Court vetoed a criticized electoral reform that the president was trying to implement.
Mexico’s president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, who will take office on October 1 and is from Obrador’s party, also praised the approval of the reform.
“I congratulate the senators of our movement [Morena] for the approval of judicial reform. With the election of judges, magistrates and ministers [da Suprema Corte]the administration of justice in our country will be strengthened,” Sheinbaum wrote in X, according to the EFE agency.
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