Mexico City, Mexico - Mexican lawmakers selected President Claudia Sheinbaum's legal advisor as the new attorney general on Wednesday after the sudden departure of her predecessor amid disagreements with the government over crime policy.

Ernestina Godoy, who had served as Mexico City's top prosecutor when Sheinbaum was its mayor, will take up the role as authorities face public pressure to improve security, with major protests over organized crime rocking the country last month.

Godoy's predecessor, Alejandro Gertz (86), became Mexico's first independent attorney general in 2019, appointed for a nine-year term as established by legal reforms passed that year.

But he resigned last week at the request of Sheinbaum, who offered him an ambassadorial position, though the country he would be sent to has not been named.

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Sheinbaum had last week appeared to criticize Gertz by publicly emphasizing a need for "greater coordination" between federal and state prosecutors to combat a surge in crime.

Media reports had suggested growing tensions between the offices of the attorney general and the president, including over leaks to the press of sensitive information regarding a drug and arms trafficking investigation.

Under Mexican law, the attorney general is chosen from a list of three candidates submitted to the Senate by the president's office.

Before the Senate vote on Wednesday, incoming attorney general Godoy promised coordination with public security authorities as well as with local prosecutor offices and human rights organizations.

The government has faced heat in recent weeks for its handling of Mexico's high rates of organized crime.

In early November, Uruapan mayor Carlos Manzo was assassinated in the restive western state of Michoacan after appealing to the federal government for help in combating organized crime.

The murder sparked protests in Michoacan and was denounced at huge youth-led demonstrations in Mexico City, which spiraled into clashes with police that resulted in over 100 injuries.