After fourteen hours of debate marked by insults, a reversal of fortune, an invasion of the chamber by demonstrators and clashes with the police, the Mexican Senate finally approved, Wednesday, September 11, shortly after midnight, the reform of the federal justice system wanted by the outgoing president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (known as “AMLO”). This includes some decried measures, such as the revocation of the 1,690 judges and magistrates and the ministers of the Supreme Court, whose replacements will be elected by popular vote.
Before Tuesday’s debates, AMLO’s party, Morena, was one vote short of the two-thirds majority in the upper house needed to approve the constitutional reform. While the opposition had united against the text, a senator from the National Action Party (right) defected at the last moment. The Mexican press revealed that he had negotiated his vote in exchange for the withdrawal of judicial investigations launched against him and his family for alleged cases of corruption and illicit enrichment, a version that “AMLO” denied. His about-face allowed the project to be adopted.
Legislative “steamroller”
Since its triumph in the general elections on June 2, the Morena party already had two-thirds of the Chamber of Deputies, as well as 27 of Mexico’s 32 local parliaments. This legislative “steamroller” now allows the president, who will hand over to his elected successor, Claudia Sheinbaum, on June 1is October, to shape the Constitution as it wished.
In the days leading up to the Senate debate, opposition parties had claimed that their lawmakers were victims of « menaces » or of ” blackmail “ from Morena to change their vote. The session was held in an electric atmosphere. Senators from both sides clashed with cries of “traitors to the homeland”, « Judas », “fascists” or “scum”until a group of students and employees of the judiciary – on strike since August 19 – invaded the chamber. In the chaos, a senator was thrown in the eyes with gasoline. The president of the Senate suspended the session and moved the discussion to another building. The demonstrators followed the cohort of legislators, but clashed with riot police. Opposition senators then took the podium, without succeeding in suspending the session or preventing the adoption of the text.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers In Mexico, President AMLO’s Judicial Reform Project Paralyzes the Courts
Add to your selections
The government says its reform will clean up the judiciary, which it considers to be riddled with corruption, nepotism and conflicts of interest. The charismatic president often accuses judges and ministers of the Supreme Court of conspiring with his opponents to slow down his decisions. “AMLO”, whose popularity has reached 65% after six years in office, was keen for the reform to be approved before he hands over to Claudia Sheinbaum. She applauded the passage of the text, believing that it will build “a true democracy and a true rule of law”.
You have 40.41% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
