Ex-Attorney General Valadés slams judicial reform extending magistrate terms as unconstitutional

Former Attorney General Diego Valadés has strongly criticized a judicial reform that extends the terms of current magistrates at the Superior Chamber of the Superior Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary (TEPJF). Valadés, also a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico's Institute of Legal Research, stated the reform is unconstitutional and does not reflect a democratic state.

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It is really incomprehensible within the Mexican constitutional system to make this type of extension when the Constitution was very clear regarding the established limits.

Speaking at a commemorative event for Manuel Camacho Solís at the Senate, Valadés questioned the extension of the electoral magistrates' period, deeming it a contradiction to the Mexican Constitution's clear limits. He noted that even within the majority political party, there are disagreements over this decision.

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I believe that at some point what is clearly an anti-democratic decision will have to be corrected.

"I believe that at some point what is clearly an anti-democratic decision will have to be corrected," Valadés asserted. When asked if the mandate extension could be seen as a quid pro quo for favorable rulings by the Electoral Tribunal that aided Morena and its allies in achieving a legislative majority, Valadés declined to speculate on political motivations.

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That would already be a very subjective pronouncement.

"That would already be a very subjective pronouncement," he responded. Nevertheless, Valadés insisted that, regardless of political interpretations, the decision is incompatible with the principles of a democratic state and the rule of law. "The objective fact is that this is a decision that does not correspond to a democratic state and a state of law," he concluded.

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The objective fact is that this is a decision that does not correspond to a democratic state and a state of law.