Mexico's proposed judicial reforms give construction chamber the jitters

The uncertainty created by the proposed constitutional reforms to Mexico’s judicial system that are currently being debated in congress could drive investments away, according to local construction chamber CMIC.

The national electoral authority (INE) recently confirmed that the ruling Morena will have a sufficient majority in the lower house to approve constitutional reforms without votes from other parties when the new members take their seats in September. However, Morena will still fall three votes short of a qualified majority in the senate.

CMIC president Luis Méndez Jaled said on Tuesday that a weak justice system along with a changing constitution could scare off investments.

“For investments it’s not about having a good or bad constitution but how vulnerable it is, as having systematic changes overnight scare investments away in the medium and long term,” he said.

“If [the constitution] is changing and if the justice system is not secure and completely established, investments could be spooked.” 

Among other proposals, the reforms sent by the federal government to congress establish that judges would be elected by popular vote.

Méndez Jaled added that, even if the chamber supports the idea of restructuring the justice system, this should be done by choosing trained and professional people to be judges.

“We are worried about this topic, we share the idea of reforming the judicial system… to end corruption, including [changing] the number of judges,” he told a press conference. “We have to see the way in which we will elect all the judges, prioritizing the abilities, specializations, careers and experience of each one of them, and not taking the risk of having the most popular ones elected instead of the ones more capable of bringing justice to our country.”