Mexico's Supreme Court on Thursday approved President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's referendum request on whether to prosecute five of his predecessors over corruption allegations.
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The “popular consultation” proposed by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador targets Carlos Salinas (1988-1994), Ernesto Zedillo (1994-2000), Vicente Fox (2000-2006), Felipe Calderon (2006-2012) and Enrique Peña Nieto (2012- 2018).
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who took power in 2018 promising to stem rampant corruption, accused them of having presided over
"an excessive concentration of wealth, monumental losses for the public treasury, the privatization of public goods and widespread corruption ”
.
Under Mexican law, the president has the right to call for a referendum, and it is up to the Supreme Court to decide whether it is constitutional.
The proposal was approved by six of the court's eleven judges, one of whom tried unsuccessfully to have it declared unconstitutional, believing that it risked violating the presumption of innocence.
"It is not for us to be a closed door but rather the bridge which allows citizens to participate in major national decisions"
, declared the President of the Supreme Court, Arturo Zaldivar.
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A strong supporter of referendums, the president had already submitted to a popular vote decisions concerning the cancellation of the construction of a partially completed airport in Mexico City or his project to build a tourist train in the south-east of the country.
"We must not be afraid of the people and we must uphold democracy,"
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Thursday morning before the court's announcement.
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