MEXICO CITY, Nov 29 (NNN-TELESUR) — Mexico’s Senate has approved a constitutional reform that seeks to eliminate presidential immunity by allowing the prosecutions filed against Presidents not only on treason offenses but also for corruption, electoral, and all other crimes.
The reform was approved with 89 votes in favor and 23 against and must now be approved by at least 17 of the 32 State legislatures in order to be endorsed and implemented at the national level.
Although a procedure was added in the reform to avoid unfounded accusations, opposition figures criticized the legislative initiative, noting that it does not mean the total elimination of the presidential immunity.
“Now, with this initiative, with this reform to the Constitution, it will be possible to judge the president for any crime as any citizen. The privilege is over,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.
The reform was first presented in December 2018 to the Lower Chamber which approved it in the terms proposed by the Executive branch in order to modify articles number 108 and 111 of the Constitution.
The Senate also endorsed with 102 votes in favor and 1 against a proposal to judge federal legislators for the same crimes as the federal Executive. The Bill will be debated now by the Lower Chamber.
“With this profound modification we will make an avant-garde transformation not only with respect to Mexico’s history, but also in the international sphere, and we will set an example of a new political structure,” Morena Party senator Marti Batres said. — NNN-TELESUR
