Claudia Sheinbaum will inherit a poisoned chalice in Mexico

Chief among them is an overhaul of the federal judiciary (the pjf). The lower house, in which the ruling coalition now has a two-thirds majority, passed it on September 4th. So fierce was the opposition that lawmakers were blocked by protesters from entering Congress; instead they began voting in a nearby gymnasium. The upper chamber, in which the coalition lacks just one vote for a supermajority, may soon pass it too. The reform opens the judiciary to political, criminal and corrupt influence by deeming that federal judges—including those of the Supreme Court and electoral courts—must soon be elected by popular vote, replacing a professional system of exams and nominations. Members of a new disciplinary tribunal with power to punish judges would also be elected, ruining a potentially good idea.