The president-elect has promised to consult extensively with members of the judiciary ahead of any reforms.
Mexico’s next president has promised to push for constitutional and judicial reform.
The country’s first female president, Claudia Scheinbaum, has promised wide consultation on the reforms and signaled her determination to push ahead with them despite concerns they have destabilized markets and hit the peso hard.
At his first news conference since his election on June 2, following a meeting with outgoing President and close aide Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Scheinbaum told reporters he remained committed to his pledge to revise the constitution.
“These are reforms that could be approved as some of the first reforms,” she said, noting that one of the first planned measures is to replace appointed Supreme Court justices with officials elected by the people.
Some lower courts would also be affected and key regulatory agencies could be abolished. Critics warn that the reforms would fundamentally change the balance of power in Mexico.
But during the press conference, Scheinbaum promised broad consultation with stakeholders within the justice system.
“When it comes to judicial reform, (the discussion) should be through the bar association, law professors, ministers and judges themselves,” she said.
Some of the planned measures are included in a set of constitutional reforms proposed by President Lopez Obrador in February, including the abolition of key regulatory agencies.
currency
The president-elect’s coalition secured the two-thirds supermajority needed to pass the reforms in the House of Representatives, falling just short in the Senate but potentially gaining additional votes through negotiations.
Scheinbaum, 61, will take office on Oct. 1, but Congress is scheduled to convene in early September, potentially giving Lopez Obrador a month to push through reforms before handing over the baton.
The outgoing president still has an approval rating of over 60 percent, but Mexican term limits mean he can only serve one term in office and cannot run again.
Scheinbaum, the former Mexico City mayor, said he didn’t think judicial reform would affect financial markets.
But as she spoke, the peso weakened nearly 2 percent in international trading to about 18.55 pesos per U.S. dollar.
Mexico’s currency has fallen about 8 percent since June 2 elections that were won by Sheinbaum and her party in a landslide, and the country’s main stock index has fallen nearly 4 percent.
