Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has defended his legacy within the last state-of-the-nation deal with – an annual report on his authorities – a month earlier than he’s set to go away workplace and get replaced by his shut ally Claudia Sheinbaum.
Talking for 2 hours in Mexico Metropolis’s sprawling Zocalo Sq., Lopez Obrador bade farewell to enthusiastic followers on Sunday as he seeks to advance a significant overhaul of the nation’s courts.
Regardless of the controversial push, which critics say would weaken the judiciary, the Mexican president continues to get pleasure from a 73 p.c approval ranking as his six-year time period winds down.
“We live in a real democracy, constructing a brand new homeland” and “laying the foundations to start a brand new stage”, he mentioned within the speech.
Hundreds of supporters of Lopez Obrador, broadly identified by his initials AMLO, stuffed the sq., which noticed a party-like environment.
“I got here as a result of it’s the farewell of probably the most historic presidents within the nation,” Jose Luis Diaz, a 39-year-old entrepreneur, advised the AFP information company. “We received’t see one other president like him for 100 years.”
The presidential report is an annual evaluate of governmental progress in Mexico, akin to the president’s State of the Union deal with in the USA.
On October 1, Lopez Obrador will hand energy to a fellow member of his Morena get together, Sheinbaum, who was elected in June to be the nation’s first lady president.
Presidents in Mexico are restricted to a single six-year time period, so Lopez Obrador couldn’t search re-election.
Sheinbaum will even inherit a package deal of constitutional reforms initiated below Lopez Obrador, together with the judicial overhaul plan that opponents see as a worryingly autocratic transfer by the governing get together.
On the core of the proposal is a plan to elect federal judges – together with Supreme Court docket appointees – by well-liked vote. Lopez Obrador has mentioned the change is required to root out corruption.
However detractors say the plan will compromise the independence of the justice system. Final week, judicial employees, together with judges, went on strike to protest the scheme.
Earlier this month, US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar warned the proposed judicial adjustments – which embrace placing judges up for election – may threaten “the historic business relationship” between the 2 nations.
The US is Mexico’s high commerce associate.
“Democracies can’t operate with out a sturdy, unbiased and non-corrupt judicial department,” Salazar advised reporters, prompting a robust response from Lopez Obrador.
The Mexican president described the criticism as “disrespectful” to Mexico’s “nationwide sovereignty”.
Presently, federal magistrates in Mexico are chosen by way of an analysis course of, together with exams, overseen by a judicial council.
Supreme Court docket justices are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
On Sunday, Lopez Obrador defended the judicial overhaul plan, saying it will make sure that judges are “on the service of the individuals” and suggesting it will restrict prison affect within the courts.
Reporting from Mexico Metropolis, Al Jazeera’s John Holman mentioned Lopez Obrador listed his achievements throughout his speech, specializing in his efforts to fight poverty in Mexico.
“I believe critics and supporters alike would assist that concept – that he has lowered the variety of poor by way of direct credit score transfers, by a raft of social programmes, pensions for the previous and grants for college and college for the younger,” Holman mentioned.
He added that Lopez Obrador additionally talked about rooting out corruption in Mexico, however “there’s quite a bit much less proof for that”.
Not that it mattered to Lopez Obrador’s supporters – on Sunday, probably the most broadly seen indicators round Zocalo Sq. have been people who simply said, “Gracias” – “Thanks”.