PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico, May 9, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Mexico's banking sector urged the government on Thursday to strengthen the rule of law, weeks before an unprecedented election in which the public votes in members of the judiciary, including nine Supreme Court judges.

"When the judicial system works... the economy is strengthened and Mexico moves forward," the outgoing president of the Association of Banks of Mexico (ABM), Julio Carranza, told an annual banking convention attended by President Claudia Sheinbaum.

The June 1 election follows a controversial reform introduced last year by former president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador making Mexico the only country to elect all its judges by popular vote.

Lopez Obrador repeatedly accused the judiciary of corruption, but opposition parties and critics say the reform will result in judges and magistrates being aligned with the ruling party and organized crime groups.

The Supreme Court previously invalidated several reforms proposed by Lopez Obrador's government.

Sheinbaum, his successor and ally, has defended the judicial election, calling it necessary to avoid nepotism and corruption among judges and magistrates.

- Access to credit -

At the banking convention, Sheinbaum praised the strength of the Mexican economy in the face of sweeping tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on the car and steel industry.

Mexico's economy grew 0.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter the year, while the US economy contracted 0.3 percent -- an unprecedented situation, Sheinbaum said.

She also presented her 'Plan Mexico' national development project aiming to strengthen local supply and consumption in several industries.

"We have a problem: access to credit for Mexicans," she said.

Her government and the ABM have signed an agreement to facilitate credit access for small and medium-sized businesses that represent 99.8 percent of the country's enterprises, according to official figures.