MEXICO CITY: Mexico’s judicial reform overhauling the nation’s courts, which will permit voters to elect judges, formally took effect on Sunday following the text of the constitutional amendments was published in the government gazette.
The judicial reforms mark a major legislative win in President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s last weeks in office. The President, who often clashed with judges he mocked as corrupt, argued the overhaul was required to better serve the interests of citizens in the country. However, critics said that electing judges rather appointing them, will eventually end the judiciary’s independence as well as undermining confidence of the investors.
Lopez Obrador also inked a decree for the reform’s publication while sitting next to his successor, Claudia Sheinbaum, in a video uploaded on social media.
The constitutional reform’s publication in the government’s gazette started the process to prepare for the 1st judicial elections for federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, set for upcoming June.
