Comment|Mexicans will probably soon be able to vote for their judges, but at the same time they forget who should bring criminals to justice, writes foreign journalist Tommi Hannula.
of Mexico the president’s time is running out. Andrés Manuel López Obrador hand over the post to his successor To Claudia Sheinbaum at the end of a reign of almost six years on October 1.
Such a setup often makes the outgoing president a so-called lame duck who has lost his ability to promote new things.
López Obrador is the opposite of Rambo, stronger and more determined than ever.
He hastily ensures the realization of the key pieces of his legacy. The MPs, who started their own term of office at the beginning of September, are helping. Sheinbaum also defends the reforms.
of Mexico congress this week began to deal with what is probably López Obrador’s most far-reaching project, the fundamental reform of the judiciary. It passed easily early Wednesday in the House of Representatives, which was in session at the sports center, as protesting lawyers had blocked the passageways to the Congress building.
The reform will probably also be approved by the Senate, which is scheduled to take up the matter next Wednesday.
It is about changing the constitution. The left-wing populist Morena party of López Obrador and Sheinbaum and its allies needed a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives. In the Senate, the share is one seat away, but negotiations on cooperation are heated and the ruling party’s position has been strengthened by recent defections.
The next president of Mexico is Claudia Sheinbaum, a former mayor of the capital region.
The most startling the reform of the judiciary is that more than 1,600 federal judges would lose their posts, which would be reappointed in a popular election. At the same time, the eligibility requirements for judges would be lowered and the 35-year-old minimum age limit would be waived. For example, fresh masters in law could be appointed as judges.
The judges of the Supreme Court of Mexico would also be elected in a direct popular election. This is how it works in all countries of the world only in Boliviawhose model has been full of problems. Bolivia is also a much smaller and much poorer country than Mexico, so López Obrador’s project has no good comparison in the world.
According to the defenders of the reform, putting the election of judges in the hands of the people would reduce the corruption of the elite and the susceptibility of judges to being pressured by organized crime.
Opponents, on the contrary, believe that the independence of the judiciary would erode, because the ruling party would have an advantage in running its own favorites as judges. National elections could also guide judicial candidates to appeal to the emotions of the voters, even though the profession should focus on evaluating the legality of things.
Of course, even today, Supreme Court justice appointments are political, as they are nominated by the federal president and confirmed by the Senate – just like in the United States. (In Finland, the President of the Republic decides on judicial appointments based on the Government’s proposal.)
The Supreme Court of Mexico, on the other hand, proposes and the Senate confirms the appointments to the Electoral Court, against which López Obdaror bears an undisguised grudge. He claims he lost the 2006 presidential election due to fraud, although the electoral court found no evidence of it.
However, the re-election of judges would extend far below these most important courts.
Credit raters have warned of the risks of the reform to the Mexican economy. In recent months, the value of the peso has plunged to its weakest level in almost two years, as the passage has started to look more and more certain.
The ambassador of the United States, Mexico’s most important trading partner by far, called the judicial reform a threat to Mexico’s democracy. The Canadian ambassador also warned that Mexico’s intentions are likely to hinder trade between the two countries. López Obrador got angry and laid last week “for a break” relations with the US and Canadian embassies.
Future president Sheinbaum responded to the neighbors’ criticism by writing messaging service X that “in 43 of the 50 states in the United States, judges are elected by popular vote”.
The United States is indeed a rare exception in a country where citizens vote for judges. But there it is mainly about local district court judges and never the federal judges who are specifically affected by the Mexican reform, the newspaper noted among others El País and a news channel CNN en Español.
Practically everyone agrees that the Mexican judiciary is dysfunctional. Its deep problems increase insecurity in the large country of 130 million inhabitants. With drug cartels is wildly influential, and roughly 95 percent of the perpetrators of violent crimes get away without consequences.
However, it’s not so much that judges shouldn’t hand out punishments, as that prosecutors can’t gather evidence and bring criminals to justice in the first place.
Prosecutors in Mexico are responsible for both the investigation and the filing of charges. Open criminal investigations only ten percent lead to litigation.
Still, precisely for the selection of prosecutors, López Obrador’s reforms do not extend.
Thousands of supporters listened to the final government statement of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s term in Zócalo Square in the Mexican capital last Sunday.
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