Mexico became the first country in the world to allow voters to elect judges at all levels on Wednesday after protesters invaded the upper house and suspended debate.
Outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had strongly advocated for the reform, criticising the current judicial system for serving the interests of the political and economic elite.
The reform was approved with 86 votes in favour and 41 against, securing the required two-thirds majority.
The debate over the reform produced enormous protests, diplomatic tensions, and investment fears.
Senate leader Gerardo Fernández Noroña called a pause after protesters invaded the upper house and chanted, “The judiciary will not fall.”
Lawmakers were forced to go to a previous Senate building, where they resumed their debate while demonstrators outside chanted, “Mr. Senator, stop the dictator!”
Obrador, who sought ratification for the law before being replaced by his close associate Claudia Sheinbaum on October 1, said that the demonstrators were defending the interests of the political establishment.
“What worries those who oppose this reform the most is that they will lose their privileges because the judiciary serves the powerful, serving white-collar crime,” the leftist leader said at a press conference.
Opponents, including court staff and law students, have protested the idea, which would elect the Supreme Court and other high-level judges, as well as local justices, through public voting.
Around 1,600 judges would have to run for election in 2025 or 2027.
“This does not exist in any other country,” said Margaret Satterthwaite, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers.
“In some countries, such as the US, some state judges are elected, and in others, such as Bolivia, high-level judges are elected,” she told AFP.
Mexico’s overhaul places it “in a unique position in terms of its method for judicial selection,” Satterthwaite said ahead of the vote.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Norma Piña issued a public warning that elected judges may be more vulnerable to criminal pressure in a country where drug gangs frequently use bribery and intimidation to influence officials.
“The demolition of the judiciary is not the way forward,” she said in a video released on Sunday.
Piña stated last week that the highest court will consider whether it has the authority to suspend the reforms, despite López Obrador’s insistence that there is no legal basis for such action.
The amendments were passed last week in the lower house by governing party MPs and their allies, who were forced to assemble in a sports complex after demonstrators prevented them from entering Congress.
