Mexico votes on Sunday to elect 2,600 judges, candidates with cartel ties in race in first such election

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For the first time in history, the people of Mexico will elect almost 2,600 judges and magistrates, including members of the Supreme Court and hundreds of other federal, state, and municipal courts read more
A man pushes his bicycle as an electoral propaganda banner hangs from a pedestrian bridge encouraging people to vote, ahead of the judicial and magistrate election, in Mexico City, Mexico. Reuters
Mexican voters confront a difficult task on Sunday.
For the first time in history, people will elect almost 2,600 judges and magistrates, including members of the Supreme Court and hundreds of other federal, state, and municipal courts.
The election will shift the judiciary from an appointment-based system to one in which people select judges. Proponents of the change believe that it makes the system more democratic and addresses issues such as nepotism and corruption. Critics argue that it risks giving the ruling party greater control and opening the courts to candidates who lack expertise and credentials or may be influenced by criminal organisations such as cartels.
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The experiment is so ambitious, contentious, and complicated that it is difficult to predict how it will play out: a single day of voting will result in the most extensive judicial change ever carried out by a large democracy.
Here's all you need to know about Mexico's judicial elections, including how they operate and why they're important.
Why are Mexicans casting ballots to elect judges?
The election marks the completion of a difficult process in which Morena, the ruling party, and its supporters amended the Constitution last year to reform the court system.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador introduced the notion of electing judges by popular vote, which his successor, Claudia Sheinbaum, has championed.
López Obrador pushed the plan after the Supreme Court blocked some of his government's plans, such as weakening Mexico's electoral watchdog agency and putting the National Guard under military control, and federal judges ordered the suspension of some of his flagship projects due to environmental concerns.
López Obrador, enraged by the verdicts, which he deemed politically motivated, asked his supporters to help solidify Morena's control of Congress. The party's huge majority in last year's general election has allowed its members to approve a raft of constitutional amendments that would revamp the judiciary system.
How does the electoral process operate?
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Half of Mexico's court will be chosen by voters on Sunday, with the remaining members to be chosen in 2027.
Nearly 880 federal judgeships, ranging from district judges to justices of the Supreme Court, will be up for election this year. Furthermore, 19 of the country's 32 states will elect local judges and magistrates to fill around 1,800 positions.
More than 7,700 candidates are vying for those positions. Unlike conventional elections, in which political parties can support their candidates' campaigns, aspiring judges are not permitted to utilise public or private funds, requiring them to rely on their own resources and guerilla marketing on social media to get attention.
To assist voters, the election commission established an online portal where individuals could learn more about the candidates. Nonetheless, even some proponents of the makeover admit that voters would struggle to make educated decisions among hundreds of relatively unknown candidates.
Concerns about democratic decay
The passage of the reform legislation sparked weeks of protests by judges and judicial staff, a sharp rebuke from the Biden administration and concerns by international investors, causing the Mexican peso to dip.
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Opponents have called on Mexicans to boycott the vote, and the election is projected to have low turnout.
The opponents, former judges, legal experts, politicians and foreign observers, say that battling corruption and impunity in the courts is not a bad idea. Most Mexicans agree that the judiciary is rife with corruption.
But critics say the ruling party is simply politicizing the courts at an opportune moment, when Sheinbaum is highly popular.
Judicial candidates are not allowed to announce their party affiliation and are unable to accept party funds or hold major campaign events. A number of former Morena government officials and allies, however, have posted lists on social media of which ones to elect.
Mexico's electoral authority said Wednesday it also had investigated cases of physical guides handed out to potential voters in Mexico City and Nuevo Leon state, something it said could amount to 'coercion.'
Will the election improve the justice system?
This has been debated for months.
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Supporters of the election frequently discuss a corrupt and nepotistic system in which justice is easier to obtain for those who can pay it and hundreds of judges have been co-opted by one or more of Mexico's violent cartels.
In fact, Mexicans believe judges are among the country's most corrupt authorities, second only to traffic cops.
Proponents argue that an elected-judges system will cut links between certain powerful criminals, corrupt authorities, and members of the elite. Instead, they believe, judges will now prioritise the interests of those who elected them: the Mexican people.
While critics concede that Mexico's judiciary faces huge problems and is in need of deep reform, they say this is not the way to fix it.
Several experts have suggested that the change will politicise courts that should rule independently, and that the Morena party, which currently controls the presidency and Congress, will exercise exceptional power over the vote. They have also claimed that a system of direct elections risks allowing unqualified people to become judges and opens the door to more cartel control.
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'Opening a Pandora's box'
Others warn that the overhaul could open the judiciary to questionable judges and allow organized crime to further influence Mexico's justice system.
A number of candidates have raised eyebrows. Chief among them is Silvia Delgado García, a former lawyer for drug kingpin Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán, who is running to be a criminal court judge in the northern border state of Chihuahua.
Critics 'speak out of ignorance because whether or not I've represented some person doesn't transform you into that person,' she told the AP as she handed out campaign flyers to people crossing the border from Ciudad Juarez to El Paso, Texas.
'What I can promise you is I'll be an impartial judge,' she told some voters.
Watchdogs also say that last year's vote on the reform was rushed through, criteria for candidates wasn't always followed, the number of candidates was limited by a lottery and lower-court orders trying to keep the reforms from taking effect were ignored.
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When will the results be known?
Mexico uses paper ballots for voting, and each one needs to be manually tallied.
The results for the federal court, including the Supreme Court, will be announced in the days after the vote, in contrast to other Mexican elections when preliminary results are known on election night.
The national vote counts that will determine the final results will be held on June 15.