MEXICO CITY — Mexican senators voted early Wednesday to abolish the country’s judicial system and allow citizens to choose nearly all judges, a drastic change that U.S. officials say could pose “a major risk” to its democracy.
During the debate late Tuesday, raucous demonstrators burst into the chamber, shattering a glass door and bringing the session to a halt. Lawmakers escaped to a colonial-era building nearby that formerly housed the Senate and resumed the discussion under heavy police guard.
“You are taking part in one of the biggest steps backward in the history of Mexico,” Sen. Verónica Rodríguez Hernández of the conservative opposition National Action Party told the ruling party.
The amendment passed the lower house last week. After Wednesday’s early-morning vote, state legislatures rushed to begin ratifying it; by early afternoon, four of the 32 had approved it. In Yucatán and Puebla, furious judiciary workers tried to block the vote, battering the entrances to the state congresses. In Mérida, Yucatán, they succeeded in entering the building. But Morena and its allies are expected to easily gain the approval of 17 states necessary for the amendment to take effect.
The new plan is a sharp break from the current judicial system, in which most federal judges are named by a professional council that considers their experience and their scores on specialized exams.
Opposition politicians and human rights activists fear Mexico is entering a new era if a dominant party assumes control, snuffing out the democratic gains of the past three decades. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in the last month of his six-year term, is also seeking to eliminate several regulatory agencies and the Freedom-of-Information agency. They were considered hallmarks of the transition from 71 years of one-party rule, which ended in 2000.
López Obrador has argued that he has the democratic legitimacy to overhaul a judiciary permeated by corruption. His Morena party won a landslide victory in June, capturing the presidency and big majorities in Congress.
The new legislature opened on Sept. 1, but López Obrador doesn’t turn over power to his successor, Claudia Sheinbaum, until next month. That’s given him a window to push through one of his most cherished projects, allowing voters to elect about 7,000 federal and local judges — including those on the Supreme Court.
Diplomats, legal analysts and business leaders warn that making judges run for office would politicize the court system, reducing its predictability and independence. The U.S. government has expressed concern that drug traffickers could bankroll judges’ electoral campaigns. Judges will have an incentive to rule according to what their patrons or voters want, scholars say, rather than the law.
Morena could use its popularity to catapult its supporters onto the bench, they say, effectively sealing its control of the government.
“Never before, in the history of this country, have two branches of government united to destroy the third,” said Luis Donaldo Colosio, a senator from the opposition Citizens Movement party.
The business community has been shaken by Morena’s blunt use of its new power. The peso has lost more than 15 percent of its value since the party’s June landslide. Some international businesses have put investments on hold. Mexico only recently edged aside China and Canada to become the No. 1 U.S. trading partner, and a slump in foreign confidence could be disastrous for its economy.
The Senate debate was furious, with opponents warning the amendment would turn Mexico into a dictatorship. Colosio said gasoline was thrown in his face as he tried to enter the old Senate building.
Morena initially appeared to be one vote short of the two-thirds Senate majority. Opposition leaders alleged the ruling party had tried to lure senators to switch sides by offering bribes or threatening judicial investigations of alleged misdeeds.
When Sen. Miguel Ángel Yunes of the National Action Party announced from the podium that he would support the bill, fellow party members booed. Morena senators waved their fists in the air, yelling “The reform advances!”
Sheinbaum, a protégé of López Obrador, has promised to continue his policies. The former Mexico City mayor has been particularly supportive of his efforts to ease poverty and expand social programs. But the amendment could complicate the early days of Mexico’s first female president, adding to strains as the economy slows and Sheinbaum attempts to consolidate her mandate after the departure of her highly popular predecessor.
The legislation has caused a rift between Mexico and the United States. U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar warned last month it posed “a major risk to the functioning of Mexico’s democracy.” López Obrador responded by imposing a “pause” on relations with the embassy and demanding it recognize Mexico’s sovereignty.
Gabriela Martinez and Valentina Muñoz Castillo contributed to this report.
