Mexico’s Morena proposes election of Supreme Court justices in June 2025

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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s ruling Morena party aims to elect all Supreme Court justices through a popular vote in June 2025, the party’s leader in the lower house of Congress said on Friday, as part of a controversial judicial reform to be discussed next month.

Additionally, half of all magistrates as well as open judicial positions in Mexico’s court system will be elected, Morena lawmaker Ignacio Mier said.

The rest will be elected through a vote in 2027.

President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, who takes office in October, also of Morena, has defended outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s judicial proposal, saying she agrees judges should be elected.

The reform has rattled markets, however, and raised alarm among investors concerned the changes would weaken Mexico’s checks and balances.

Last week Reuters reported that Morena was considering changes to the planned judicial reform in a bid to calm market concerns, including making the election of judges a staggered process over several years to reduce fears of a political takeover of the judiciary.

“It will be staggered. There will be an extraordinary election in 2025, there will be another ordinary election concurrent with the federal election in 2027,” Mier said on Friday.

Mier said the proposal has already undergone over 100 changes.

(Reporting by Diego Ore; Writing by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Stephen Eisenhammer)