Sawt Falasteen - Reform row puts Mexico at risk of 'constitutional crisis'

The constitutional amendment making Mexico the world's only country to allow voters to choose judges at all levels -- starting next year -- has sparked opposition street protests and diplomatic tensions with Washington.

Experts say that a ruling against the reforms could trigger a constitutional crisis in the Latin American nation.

Last week, eight of 11 Supreme Court justices decided not to seek election in June 2025, submitting resignations that will mostly take effect next August.

On Wednesday, the court will discuss a proposal by justice Juan Luis Gonzalez to annul the election of judges, though not those at the Supreme Court.

Sheinbaum on Monday accused the court of "overstepping its functions" by seeking to change reforms that have already been incorporated in the constitution.

"Eight justices cannot be above the people of Mexico," Sheinbaum told a news conference, suggesting that the election of judges would go ahead whatever the top court rules.

"The people of Mexico are going to vote for judges, magistrates and justices," said Sheinbaum.

If the government ignores a Supreme Court ruling, "we would be facing an unprecedented constitutional crisis" that could "create a very dangerous precedent for the legitimacy of Mexican institutions," said Francisco Burgoa, a professor of constitutional law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Former president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador argued that the reforms, which he enacted in September before leaving office, were needed to clean up a "rotten" judiciary serving the interests of the political and economic elite.

Critics fear that elected judges could be influenced by politics and pressure from criminal gangs that regularly target officials with bribery and intimidation.

The United States said that the changes threatened a relationship that relies on investor confidence in the Mexican legal framework -- a warning that Lopez Obrador rejected as "interventionist."

Experts say Sheinbaum, a close ally of Lopez Obrador who became Mexico's first woman president on October 1, appears unlikely to back down.

"Accepting the ruling could help President Claudia Sheinbaum avert a constitutional crisis, yet concessions are unlikely," the political risk firm EMPRA wrote in a note to clients.

"If the president and Morena party choose not to comply with the ruling, it could lead to a constitutional standoff, heightening uncertainty and potentially triggering a clash between government branches."

K.Hassan--SF-PST