Mexico’s controversial judicial reform bill clears key hurdle

Updated Sep 5, 2024, 12:37pm EDTpoliticsbusinessNorth America

The News

Mexico’s lower chamber on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to approve outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s controversial judicial overhaul bill that would see judges elected by popular vote.

Lawmakers met in a nearby sports hall after protests blocked the entrance to the legislative palace — judicial workers, including the Supreme Court justices, and others have carried out strikes and demonstrations against the bill.

Critics say the planned measures would erode the independence of the judiciary from politics, and allow President López Obrador’s Moreno party to further consolidate power.

Having cleared the lower house hurdle, the legislation will now go to the Senate, where it is expected to pass.

SIGNALS

Semafor Signals: Global insights on today's biggest stories.

Business community alarmed over changes

Source: Financial Times

Mexico’s business leaders have expressed concerns that the proposed changes like eliminating autonomous regulators would politicize justice, especially impacting regulated areas like mining, energy, and telecom, one executive told the Financial Times. Businesses fighting unfair competition from state-owned companies may end up before judges who are allies of the ruling party. The proposal has cratered foreign investment into the nation and could gradually erode commerce between the US and Mexico, each the other’s largest trading partner. “This is more like cancer than a heart attack,” said an expert at Citi Bank.

Officials were stunned by the “extreme” proposal

Sources: El País, BBC, The Associated Press

The proposed changes have been widely criticized by international legal experts and officials: The US Ambassador to Mexico said it “is a major risk to the functioning of Mexico’s democracy.” After his Canadian counterpart echoed the criticism, López Obrador said he was “pausing” diplomatic relations with both countries’ embassies, a recurring tool used by him to illustrate disagreements with nations, El País wrote. Critics have noted the reforms would fail to address “high levels of impunity and chronic underfunding” in Mexico’s judicial system, the BBC reported, and others are concerned about the introduction of “hooded judges” whose identities would be kept secret when presiding over organized crime cases, according to The Associated Press.