Mexico’s legislature moves ahead with judicial reforms despite protests

The changes, which would see federal judges elected by popular vote, pass in lower chamber.

A judicial overhaul championed by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has cleared its first legislative hurdle with Mexico’s lower house passing the reform package despite widespread protests.

The vote on Wednesday was also held during an ongoing strike by federal court employees, justices and magistrates. Critics have warned the bill would erode the independence of the judiciary – particularly through a provision that would see federal justices elected by popular vote – and would fail to address the actual issues plaguing the system.

Opposition legislator Paulina Rubio Fernandez summed up that sentiment before the vote, which was conducted after lawmakers were forced to meet in a gymnasium as protesters blocked entrance to the Congress building.

“We should inaugurate a wall of shame that says: ‘Today begins the fall of our republic.’ And it should have the date and all the faces of the Morena congressmen,” Rubio Fernandez, said, referring to Lopez Obrador’s Morena party, which has a supermajority in the Chamber of Deputies.

The measure passed 359-135 in an initial party-line vote. It later received final approval to be sent to the Senate for further debate. Because the bill includes constitutional changes, supermajority votes are required in both chambers. The Morena party is one seat shy of a supermajority in the Senate, but the bill is expected to eventually pass.