Mexicans elect their judges under shadow of organized crime
Mexico began unprecedented elections Sunday, June 1, allowing voters to choose their judges at all levels, in a country where drug cartels and other vested interests regularly seek to alter the course of justice.
The government says the reform making Mexico the world's only country to select all of its judges and magistrates by popular vote is needed to tackle deep-rooted graft and impunity. "Those who want the regime of corruption and privileges in the judiciary to continue say this election is rigged. Or they also say it's so a political party can take over the Supreme Court," President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a video on the eve of the election. "Nothing could be further from the truth," she added.
Critics and experts are concerned that the judiciary will be politicized and that it could become easier for criminals to influence the courts with threats and bribery. While corruption already exists, "there is reason to believe that elections may be more easily infiltrated by organized crime than other methods of judicial selection," said Margaret Satterthwaite, the United Nations special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers.
The run-up to the vote has not been accompanied by the kind of violence that often targets politicians in Mexico. But cartels were likely trying to influence the outcome in the shadows, said Luis Carlos Ugalde, a consultant and former head of Mexico's electoral commission.
"It is logical that organized criminal groups would have approached judges and candidates who are important to them," Ugalde, general director of Integralia Consultores, told a roundtable hosted by the Inter-American Dialogue.
Controversial contenders
Carlota Ramos, a lawyer in the office of President Claudia Sheinbaum, said that while the risk of organized crime infiltrating state institutions was real, the new system allowed greater scrutiny of aspiring judges. Rights group Defensorxs has identified around 20 candidates it considers "high risk," including Silvia Delgado, a former lawyer for Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
Fernando Escamilla, who is seeking to be a judge in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, was a lawyer for Miguel Angel Trevino, a former leader of the Los Zetas cartel, renowned for its brutality. Another aspiring judge, in Durango state, spent almost six years in prison in the United States for drug crimes.
Voters will choose around 880 federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, as well as hundreds of local judges and magistrates. Another election for the remainder will be held in 2027.
Candidates are supposed to have a law degree, experience in legal affairs and what is termed "a good reputation," as well as no criminal record. There are indications that many voters may stay away, in part due to the complexity of the exercise.
The judicial reforms were championed by Sheinbaum's predecessor and mentor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who frequently clashed with the courts.
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