Mexican demonstrators block Congress over proposals to make judges stand for election
Protesters in Mexico City blocked entrances to Congress Tuesday over proposals that would make judges stand for election.
A mix of court employees, students and other critics chanted and strung ropes across entrances to the lower house of Congress.
Many employees, including those at the Supreme Court, have gone on strike to protest constitutional reforms proposed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena party that they say would politicize and de-professionalize the court system.
Under the current system, judges and court secretaries, who act as judges’ assistants, slowly qualify for higher positions based on their record. But under the proposed changes, any lawyer with minimal qualifications could run, with some candidacies decided by drawing names from a hat.
