Politics Mexico's judicial workers end long strike

After almost two months, federal judges and judicial employees in Mexico have ended a strike against a controversial law on judicial reform.

A majority of judicial employees voted in favor of ending the walkout and for the protests against the reform to "continue through other types of activities," according to the Association of Federal Judges.

The nature of these forms of protest was not disclosed. The judiciary employees will resume their work on Wednesday, it said. According to the Mexican newspaper "Milenio", more than 50,000 people are involved.

Controversial constitutional amendment

In September, Mexico's Senate passed an amendment to the constitution that allows all federal judges to be directly elected by the citizens. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who was in power until the end of September, signed the law. The new President Claudia Sheinbaum supports the reform.

Critics of the reform fear that, as a result of the election of judges by the population, the powerful drug cartels, which control large parts of the country and therefore also people's voting behavior, could gain more influence over the judiciary. There is also criticism that the professional agreement of judges could play a lesser role in future and that politics could exert greater influence on the judiciary.

Around 1,700 federal judges and thousands of judicial employees walked off the job in protest. The Supreme Court and the federal courts only dealt with urgent cases. According to the new rules, all federal judgeships are to be filled between 2025 and 2027 - including those on the Supreme Court.