With protestors at the door, Mexico鈥檚 Senate says judges must stand for election
| Mexico City
Mexico鈥檚 Senate voted early Wednesday to overhaul the country鈥檚 judiciary, clearing the biggest hurdle for a controversial constitutional revision that will make all judges stand for election, a change that critics fear will politicize the judicial branch and threaten Mexico鈥檚 democracy.
The approval came in two votes after hundreds of protesters pushed their way into the Senate on Sept. 10, interrupting the session after it appeared that Morena, the governing party of outgoing President Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador, had lined up the necessary votes to pass the proposal.
The legislation sailed through the lower chamber, where Morena and its allies hold a supermajority, last week. Approval by the Senate posed the biggest obstacle and required defections from opposition parties.
One came Sept. 10 from the conservative opposition National Action Party (PAN) after a lawmaker who had previously spoken out against the overhaul took leave for medical reasons and his father, a former governor, suggested he would vote for the proposal. The lawmaker ended up returning to his seat to give the proposal the last vote it needed.
The Senate voted twice on the bill, both times 86-41, with the second result coming around 4 a.m. The chamber erupted into cheers and chants of 鈥淵es, we could!鈥�
The legislation must now be ratified by the legislatures of 17 of Mexico鈥檚 32 states. The governing party is believed to have the necessary support after major gains in recent elections.
On the evening of Sept. 10, just hours after the ruling party appeared to have wrangled the votes it needed, protesters with pipes and chains broke into the Senate chamber. At least one person fainted.
The protesters said lawmakers were not listening to their demands.
鈥淭he judiciary isn鈥檛 going to fall,鈥� yelled the protesters, waving Mexican flags and signs against the overhaul. They were joined by a number of opposition senators as they chanted in the chamber. Others outside the court roared when newscasters announced the Senate was taking a recess.
Among them was Alejandro Navarrete, a 30-year-old judicial worker, who said that people like him working in the courts 鈥渒nowing the danger the reform represents鈥� came to call on the Senate to strike down the proposal.
鈥淭hey have decided to sell out the nation, and sell out for political capital they were offered. We felt obligated to enter the Senate,鈥� he said, carrying a Mexican flag. 鈥淥ur intention is not violent, we didn鈥檛 intend to hurt them, but we intend to make it clear that the Mexican people won鈥檛 allow them to lead us into a dictatorship.鈥�
But a short time later the Senate reconvened in another location and resumed debate on the proposal. An initial vote in favor came shortly after midnight.
The approval came after weeks of protests by judicial employees and law students.
Critics and observers say the plan, under which all judges would be elected, could threaten judicial independence and undermine the system of checks and balances.
Mr. L贸pez Obrador 鈥� a populist long averse to independent regulatory bodies, who has ignored courts and attacked judges 鈥� claims his plan would crack down on corruption by making it easier to punish judges. Critics say it would handicap the judiciary, stack courts with judges favoring the president鈥檚 party, allow anyone with a law degree to become a judge and even make it easier for politicians and criminals to influence courts.
It has spooked investors and prompted U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar to call it a 鈥渞isk鈥� to democracy and an economic threat.
This story was reported by The Associated Press.聽
