Protesters took to the streets of Mexico yesterday in another show of disagreement with the reform proposed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the judicial system and other actions of the ruling party, which, according to critics, will weaken the democratic foundations of the country, reported AP, quoted by BTA.
Demonstrators gathered in the capital of Mexico, as well as in Michoacán, Puebla, León, Jalisco, Oaxaca, Veracruz and a number of other states.
In the capital, crowds of people, many of them striking federal court employees and judges, ended their march in front of the Supreme Court building in the center of the city, waving flags that read "Judicial Independence" and "Respect democracy".
"At the moment we are protesting against the reforms, but not only against them," said lawyer Mauricio Espinosa. He spoke out against "all these attacks on the judiciary and other autonomous bodies. The purpose of these actions is ultimately to strengthen the executive branch, the next president," he added.
After the big election victory in June of the presidential party "Morena" and its allies, the government is pushing for sweeping changes to Mexico's judicial system, which has long been at odds with Lopez Obrador, a populist who openly attacks judges and ignores court orders, AP notes.
His proposal includes directly electing judges, which analysts, judges and international observers say will lead to an accumulation of politically biased judges with little experience. That's the concern of Espinosa, who says the justices "will have to raise money for campaigns, find someone to support them." So their judgments will no longer be 100% independent.
The proposed changes would have to be approved by Mexico's parliament, where the ruling coalition has a majority.
And on Friday, electoral authorities gave Morena and allied parties 73% of the seats in the lower house of Congress, although they won significantly less - 60% of the vote. This would give the ruling bloc the two-thirds majority in the Chamber of Deputies needed to push through the constitutional changes with little or no compromise.
The coalition will be several seats short of a two-thirds majority in the Senate, but it is possible to win the necessary votes from a smaller party.
Although the new lawmakers won't take office until September 1, a congressional committee on Friday already began pushing through another controversial initiative - the elimination of seven autonomous bodies, including the National Transparency Institute.
"Morena" argues that Mexico's independent oversight and regulatory bodies are a waste of money. According to the party, oversight responsibilities should be assigned to government departments, essentially allowing them to self-police.