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The Reform to the Judicial Branch promoted by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has generated criticism at national and international level for the election of judges through popular vote, an issue that will be left in the hands of Claudia Sheinbaum due to the procedural stage, time that will allow the president-elect to make personal changes, said José Martín Íñiguez, professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
José Martín Íñiguez Ramos, professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences at UNAM, commented in an interview during the radio program Península 360 Press and Hecho en California with Marcos Gutiérrez, that this reform still has a process to conclude, so there is enough time to let the virtual president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, give her opinion and make the necessary adjustments.
"They left the field cleared for the reforms to be approved, but this will not happen like this, because it would put Claudia Sheinbaum in a very weak position, especially before Mexican society, commercial partners and other countries. I do not believe that she is capable of shooting herself in the foot, deep down she does not agree," added the professor at the Universidad Iberoamericana (IBERO).
The document presented by the Mexican Government proposes modifying Article 95 of the Constitution, which would allow judges to be elected by direct and secret vote for a period of up to 12 years, changing the current 15 years; in the case of the ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), they would last 8, 11 and 14 years, depending on the results of the vote.
The Federal Judicial Council would lose the right to appoint judges and magistrates as it currently has, since the ministers are proposed by the president through a list of three candidates and the winner must have the support of at least two thirds of the current senators.
In this regard, Iñiguez stressed that, by electing judges, magistrates and ministers through popular vote, there would not be a good process, since in reality the winner would be the one who makes the best campaign, which opens a huge field to various powers such as organized crime, business, civil society, pressure groups and more, who can place their own candidates.
"It puts at risk the capacity of those who will lead in power, since a young graduate is not the same as a person who has spent years making a meritorious career for a position like these and that is when the important question arises: who is going to pay for the campaigns of these candidates? And if the number of candidates is exceeded, it will be decided through a raffle, which is illogical," he pointed out.
If approved, elections to renew ministers, magistrates and judges would be held in 2025, the head of the Ministry of the Interior, Luisa María Alcalde, reported in February.
The reform is at the federal level, the positions that would be put to popular election are 1,600 and it is divided into two stages, June 2025 and 2027, two years later, but this is only a proposal that should be approved by both chambers.
Professor Íñiguez explained that not everything is due to the popular vote, since it is necessary to mention that within these modifications many benefits that are excessive and unnecessary will be removed, it is the part that can be rescued and that is important to adjust.
The Stanford Law School Rule of Law Impact Lab and the Mexican Bar Association warned that this reform "constitutes a direct threat to judicial independence, violates international standards, and undermines democracy in Mexico."
The letter issued by the United States ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, on August 22 was very drastic, said Íñiguez, saying that it is putting at risk not only the T-MEC (Free Trade Agreement between Canada, the United States and Mexico), but also foreign investments, since it has already been approved by the committees, which is why it attracts the attention of foreign investors.
The reform of the Judicial Branch is an issue that must be analyzed in due time, as Claudia Sheinbaum has stated, leaving the opportunity to make her own reform with sufficient time to analyze, adjust and propose for consideration, she specified.
"She has not yet taken power and can only give opinions for the moment and, unlike López Obrador, her cabinet is more technical, more professional, since the people who will be at her side are more professional and there will be two forms of government, so it remains to be seen what she decides," also emphasized a professor of the armed forces at the Center for Higher Naval Studies.
This Wednesday, August 28, Claudia Sheinbaum called on the Morena bench in the Chamber of Deputies not to accelerate the discussion of the reform to the Judicial Branch, which is part of a package of 20 reforms to modify various parts of the Constitution, because she assures that the procedural stage must be respected and that she will send her own proposal after October 1, a fact that confirmed what was stated by Professor Íñiguez.
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