Mexico will amend its constitution this weekend to require all judges to be elected

MEXICO CITY — Mexico is poised to amend its constitution this weekend to require all judges to be elected as part of a judicial overhaul championed by the outgoing president but slammed by critics as a blow to the country’s rule of law.

The amendment passed Mexico’s Congress on Wednesday, and by Thursday it already had been ratified by the required majority of the country’s 32 state legislatures. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he would sign and publish the constitutional change on Sunday.

Legal experts and international observers have said the move could endanger Mexico’s democracy by stacking courts with judges loyal to the ruling Morena party, which has a strong grip on both Congress and the presidency after big electoral wins in June.

López Obrador says the overhaul would crack down on corruption in a system that most Mexicans agree is broken. But critics believe the move will deal a blow to checks and balances and make it easier for cartels and criminals to influence the courts.

The overhaul has fueled weeks of strikes and protests by judicial employees, law students and many other Mexicans.

On Wednesday, it crossed its biggest hurdle by passing Mexico's Senate. Angry protesters stormed the chambers Tuesday in a last ditch effort to block the proposal, but senators moved to another location and passed the measure in the early morning after hours of verbal sparring.

As of Thursday, 18 legislatures already had ratified the overhaul.

López Obrador said he would time his signing of the measure for Sunday's celebration of Mexico's Independence Day. The event will allow the populist leader to solidify the judicial transformation as his legacy, just weeks before he leaves office on Sept. 30.

“With now 18 approving it, well, now it’s legal,” López Obrador said during in a morning news briefing on Thursday.

“It's an incredibly important reform, reaffirming that in Mexico there is authentic democracy. The people electing their representatives, electing their public servants in all three branches, that is democracy," he said.