FILE PHOTO: Law enforcement officers guard the main entrance of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) after judges decided to join the work stoppage due to a debate in Congress on a controversial judicial reform in Mexico City, Mexico, September 4, 2024. REUTERS/ Quetzalli Nicte-Ha/File Photo
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Lawmakers in Mexico's lower house of Congress voted overwhelmingly on Monday in favor of legislation that will implement a controversial judicial overhaul moving the country to a system of elected judges over the next three years.
The so-called secondary legislation passed the Chamber of Deputies on a vote of 336 lawmakers in favor and 123 against, powered by the large majority wielded by the ruling Morena party of President Claudia Sheinbaum.
"This marks the end of corruption," said Morena lawmaker Maria Rosete, shortly after the vote count was announced.
"Because when we transform state-conferred powers, that means we're burying the interests that served Mr. Money, not those of the people."
Late last week, Mexico's Senate passed the regulations that will spell out how the overhaul will be carried out.
The sweeping judicial reform, was voted into the country's constitution in September, marking a historic shake up for the country's courts at every level, including the Supreme Court, which will be disbanded and replaced next year.
The overhaul ushers in a high-stakes experiment that will for the first time require voters to elect all judges in elections in June 2025 and in 2027, a move that critics say will end the judiciary's political independence.
The reform was backed by Sheinbaum, who took office two weeks ago, but was originally championed by leftist former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
He often clashed with judges he derided as corrupt, while arguing that the overhaul was needed to better serve the interests of ordinary citizens and expand the country's democracy.
Critics countered that electing judges will effectively give Morena and its allies control over courts, while undermining investor confidence in Mexico.
"This is no judicial reform, it's revenge. That's what it is," said opposition lawmaker Ruben Moreira of the once-dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
"It throws away very useful things in the judicial branch, it discards the experience of many people, and this is a horrible thing for the country," he said.
(Reporting by Diego Ore; Additonal reporting by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle and Sonali Paul)
