Mexico's Sheinbaum sends secondary legislation on judicial reform implementation

Mexico's Sheinbaum sends secondary legislation on judicial reform implementation

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that she had sent two proposals to Congress to implement a constitutional reform of the judiciary by tweaking electoral laws.

Congress passed the sweeping reform, which stipulates that all judges be elected by popular vote over the next three years, in September.

The ruling Morena party and its allies have championed the reform as an improvement on the current judicial system, arguing it is needed to root out corruption in the judiciary.

"The judicial reform has already been approved, it is constitutional, and in a few days, after the approval of these two laws, the electoral process will begin," Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference.

Lower house leader Ricardo Monreal told journalists that the proposals would first be voted on in the Senate and should likely arrive in the house later in the week.

"We'll speed up these two (proposals)," Monreal said, adding that Sheinbaum was due to send another package of bills to Congress next week.

Sheinbaum's office in a statement said that the two reforms proposed on Monday aim to ensure certainty around the process for electing judges, justices and magistrates.

An election to replace all Supreme Court judges, while reducing their number from 11 to nine, as well as to vote in members of an electoral tribunal and half the country's magistrates and district judges, is scheduled for June 1.

Mexico's Supreme Court last week voted to consider a constitutional challenge to the judicial overhaul, and is expected to rule on whether the reform affects the independence of the courts.