Mexico’s lower house passes general text of judicial reform

Mexico’s lower house approved the general text of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s proposal to overhaul the country’s judicial system, which seeks to elect all federal judges by popular vote, something that opponents say will put democracy at risk.

The ruling Morena party and its allies used its broad two-thirds majority in the lower house to pass the proposal with 359 votes in favor and 135 against, according to a lower house webcast early Wednesday.

Lawmakers will later discuss individual articles of the proposal, but its core objective, the election of judges by popular vote, will remain part of the bill.

The peso weakened 0.4% to 19.86 per dollar as markets digested the implications of the vote.

Once individual articles are approved, the plan will be ready to be discussed in the Senate, where the governing coalition only needs one additional vote to reach the super-majority required to pass it. Debate in the Senate could happen as early as Thursday.

The plan seeks to elect approximately half of Mexico’s federal judges by popular vote in 2025, including Supreme Court justices, and the rest in 2027, when the Electoral Court judges will be elected.

“The intention of this reform is to eliminate once and for all the checks and balances that have put a limit to the concentration of power,” said opposition lawmaker Claudia Ruiz Massieu Salinas, from the Movimiento Ciudadano party.

Earlier, Supreme Court justices decided to join labor strikes against the reform, a decision that was approved with eight votes in favor and three against, the top court confirmed in a statement. Urgent matters will continue to be performed and the justices will evaluate the decision on Sept. 9.

In addition to the vote on the judges, Lopez Obrador’s plan would reduce the number of Supreme Court justices from 11 to 9 and cut their term from 15 to 12 years. He also wants to eliminate the requirement that judges must be at least 35 years old, and halve the years of experience needed in judiciary work from 10 to 5.

The plan is a priority for the president known as AMLO, who has characterized it as a way to root out judicial corruption and wants to secure its approval before he leaves office at the end of September. But it has drawn backlash from judges, the Mexican opposition, investors and the U.S., who all say it will undermine judicial independence and will give the ruling party control of the judiciary.

President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum said the judicial reform won’t affect Mexico’s trade relations, nor domestic or foreign private investments. “On the contrary, there will be more and better rule of law and more democracy for all,” she said in a post on X before the vote.

The session had to be held in a sports center in Mexico City because demonstrators blocked access to the legislature to protest against the reform.

The proposal will also have to be discussed in local congresses if it’s passed in the Senate.