(Bloomberg) — Judges on Mexico’s Supreme Court decided to join labor protests against President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s proposal to overhaul the judicial system, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
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The decision was approved Tuesday with eight votes in favor and three against, the person said, a day after top court workers also joined the strikes.
If passed, Lopez Obrador’s reform would see all Mexican judges elected by popular vote, including those on the Supreme Court — something critics say will put democracy at risk.
The proposal is set to be discussed late afternoon on Tuesday by the lower house, where the governing Morena party holds more than a two-thirds majority. The session will be held in a sports center because demonstrators have blocked access to the legislature.
New demonstrators have also gathered outside the new venue, and blocked a major highway in Mexico City, El Financiero reported.
Although the strikes that began last month are nationwide, they don’t affect all judicial proceedings and urgent matters will continue to be performed with staff on duty in all courts, said Judge Juana Fuentes Velazquez, head of JUFED, one of Mexico’s main associations of judicial workers leading the protests.
If the the plan is approved, it will be ready to be debated in the senate, where the governing coalition only needs one more vote to reach the supermajority required to pass it. The discussion in the senate could happen as soon as Thursday.
Backlash From Judges
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 a backlash from judges, the Mexican opposition, investors and the US, who all say it will undermine judicial independence and will give the ruling party control of the judiciary, eliminating checks and balances.
Morena and allies say they have the necessary quorum to start debating the reform on Tuesday, while some opposition lawmakers have arrived at the sports center, newspaper Reforma reported. Legislators from the main opposition party, PAN, are deciding whether to attend, according to a communications person who asked not to be named because the discussions are private.
–With assistance from Cyntia Barrera Diaz.
(Updates with new developments, background starting in fifth paragraph.)
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