Mexico's first judicial elections stir controversy and confusion among voters
An electoral worker prepares ballot boxes for the country's first judicial elections in Mexico City, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
MEXICO CITY — Mexico held its first-ever judicial elections on Sunday, stirring controversy and sowing confusion among voters still struggling to understand a process set to transform the country's court system.
The election appeared to get off to a slow start.
Some voting centers in Mexico City, the Gulf coast state of Veracruz and the southern state of Chiapas opened with no one or only a handful of people waiting to vote. Experts had warned that turnout in the historic elections could be extremely low, due to the mindboggling array of unfamiliar choices and the fact that voting for judges is entirely new.
Mexico's ruling party, Morena, overhauled the court system late last year, fueling protests and criticism that the reform is an attempt by those in power to seize on their political popularity to gain control of the branch of government until now out of their reach.
'It's an effort to control the court system, which has been a sort of thorn in the side' of those in power, said Laurence Patin, director of the legal organization Juicio Justo in Mexico. 'But it's a counter-balance, which exists in every healthy democracy.'
Now, instead of judges being appointed on a system of merit and experience, Mexican voters will choose between some 7,700 candidates vying for more than 2,600 judicial positions.
In a middle-class Mexico City neighborhood, poll workers organized the color-coded ballots by federal and local contests. Four people were waiting to vote when the location opened.
Esteban Hernández, a 31-year-old veterinary student, said he didn't agree with electing judges and doesn't support Morena, but came to vote because 'since there isn't much participation, my vote will count more.'
He had studied the candidates on a website listing their qualifications and decided to pick those who had doctorates.
At the same polling place, Octavio Arellano, a 67-year-old consultant, quickly made his selections, referring to handwritten notes he carried with him. He's also a critic of the process, but voted for members of the Supreme Court, as well as disciplinary and electoral tribunals, to 'influence the most important' races. He said he spoiled his votes for the local judicial positions.
At a polling place in a park in Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala, Francisco Torres de León, a 62-year-old retired teacher, came prepared, having studied the ballots and his selections. He marked all the ballots in about five minutes, but even so, said, 'the process is laborious because there are too many candidates and positions that they're going to occupy.'
Hugo de León Roblero, 73, also a retired teacher, took about 20 minutes to fill out the ballots at the same polling place, but supported the process, which he said was a necessary change, 'even though there's some confusion about how to vote.'
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum and party allies have said the elections are a way to purge the court system of corruption in a country that has long faced high levels of impunity. Critics say the vote could damage democracy and open the judicial system up further to organized crime and other corrupt actors hoping to get a grip on power.
That process has only grown more chaotic in the run-up to the vote.
Civil society organizations like Defensorxs have raised red flags about a range of candidates running for election, including lawyers who represented some of Mexico's most feared cartel leaders and local officials who were forced to resign from their positions due to corruption scandals.
Also among those putting themselves forward are ex-convicts imprisoned for years for drug-trafficking to the United States and a slate of candidates with ties to a religious group whose spiritual leader is behind bars in California after pleading guilty to sexually abusing minors.
At the same time, voters have been plagued by confusion over a voting process that Patin warned has been hastily thrown together. Voters often have to choose from sometimes more than a hundred candidates who are not permitted to clearly voice their party affiliation or carry out widespread campaigning.
As a result, many Mexicans say they're going into the vote blind. Mexico's electoral authority has investigated voter guides being handed out across the country, in what critics say is a blatant move by political parties to stack the vote in their favor.
'Political parties weren't just going to sit with their arms crossed,' Patin said.
Miguel Garcia, a 78-year-old former construction worker, stood in front of the country's Supreme Court on Friday peering at a set of posters, voter guides with the faces and numbers of candidates.
He was fiercely scribbling down their names on a small scrap of paper and said that he had traveled across Mexico City to try to inform himself ahead of the vote, but he couldn't find any information other than outside the courthouse.
'In the neighborhood where I live, there's no information for us,' he said. 'I'm confused, because they're telling us to go out and vote but we don't know who to vote for.'
María Verza, Megan Janetsky and Fabiola Sánchez, The Associated Press
AP journalists Edgar H. Clemente in Tapachula, Mexico, Alba Aléman in Xalapa, Mexico and Fernando Llano in Mexico City contributed to this report.
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Winnipeg Free Press
20 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Mexico's ruling party headed toward control of newly elected Supreme Court, vote tallies show
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A political controversy That Morena would emerge from the election with control of the judiciary was what critics had feared. The vote came after months of fierce debate, prompted when López Obrador and the party jammed through the reforms for judges to be elected instead of being appointed based on merits. The overhaul will notably limit the Supreme Court as a counterweight to the president. Critics say the judicial reform was an attempt to take advantage of high popularity levels to stack courts in favor of the party. Sheinbaum and her mentor have insisted that electing judges will root out corruption in a system most Mexicans agree is broken. 'Whoever says that there is authoritarianism in Mexico is lying,' Sheinbaum said during the vote. 'Mexico is a country that is only becoming more free, just and democratic because that is the will of the people.' 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Previously a congresswoman, she's a member of Morena and clearly an ally of Mexico's president. — Yasmín Esquivel is a Supreme Court justice who was appointed by López Obrador. She focused her campaign on modernizing the justice system and has pushed for gender equality. She was at the center of a 2022 controversy when she was accused of plagiarizing her thesis. She is considered an ally of the Morena party. — Loretta Ortiz is a justice on the Supreme Court who was appointed by López Obrador. She also served in Congress and resigned from Morena in 2018 in a show of independence as a judge. Despite that, she's considered an ally of the party. — María Estela Ríos González is a lawyer who acted as legal adviser to López Obrador, first when he was mayor of Mexico City and later when he became president. 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Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Mexico's first judicial elections are marked by low turnout, confusion and disillusionment
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It's all the same,' said Raul Bernal, a 50-year-old factory worker in downtown Mexico City walking is dog. A historic vote Even without the final tally, the results of the vote are set to transform Mexico's judiciary. Morena overhauled the court system late last year, fueling protests and criticism that the reform is an attempt by those in power to seize on their political popularity to gain control of the branch of government until now out of their reach. 'It's an effort to control the court system, which has been a sort of thorn in the side' of those in power, said Laurence Patin, director of the legal organization Juicio Justo in Mexico. 'But it's a counter-balance, which exists in every healthy democracy.' Instead of judges being appointed on a system of merit and experience, Mexican voters have cast ballots to choose between some 7,700 candidates vying for more than 2,600 judicial positions. Mexicans head to the polls Some of the country's voting centers opened with only a trickle of people and small lines forming throughout the day. Esteban Hernández, a 31-year-old veterinary student, said he didn't agree with electing judges and doesn't support Morena, but came to vote because 'since there isn't much participation, my vote will count more.' He had studied the candidates on a website listing their qualifications and decided to pick those who had doctorates. Other critics said they only voted for the Supreme Court and other top courts. Francisco Torres de León, a 62-year-old retired teacher in southern Mexico, called the process 'painstaking because there are too many candidates and positions that they're going to fill.' Sheinbaum's predecessor and political mentor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had pushed through the judicial reform but remained out of the public eye since leaving office last year, voted in Chiapas near his ranch. 'I wanted to participate in this historic election,' he said. 'Never in the history of our country … have the people decided and had the right to elect judges.' Democratic concerns The process has raised concerns. Civil society organizations like Defensorxs have raised red flags about a range of candidates running for election, including lawyers who represented some of Mexico's most feared cartel leaders and local officials who were forced to resign from their positions due to corruption scandals. Also among those putting themselves forward are ex-convicts imprisoned for years for drug trafficking to the United States and a slate of candidates with ties to a religious group whose spiritual leader is behind bars in California after pleading guilty to sexually abusing minors. Others like Martha Tamayo, a lawyer and former congresswoman from conflict-ravaged Sinaloa, cast doubt on projections that the election could hand even more power over to criminals and criminal groups, simply because they already have a strong control over courts. 'The influence of criminal groups already exists,' she said. 'The cartels go with the judges (bribe them) whether they are elected or not.' 'You have to start with something' The public has been plagued by confusion over a voting process that Patin warned has been hastily thrown together. Voters often have to choose from more than a hundred candidates who are not permitted to clearly voice their party affiliation or carry out widespread campaigning. As a result, many Mexicans said they were going into the vote blind, though others voting Sunday noted they supported the process despite the confusion. Mexico's electoral authority has investigated voter guides being handed out across the country, in what critics say is a blatant move by political parties to stack the vote in their favor. 'Political parties weren't just going to sit with their arms crossed,' Patin said. While still unsure if his vote would improve access to justice for many Mexicans, 61-year-old actor Manuel José Contreras defended the election, Sheinbaum and her party. He cast his ballot with a tone of hope. 'The reform has its problems but we needed an urgent change,' he said. 'You have to start with something.' ___ AP journalists in Mexico Edgar H. Clemente in Tapachula, Alba Aléman in Xalapa and Fernando Llano in Mexico City contributed to this report.
Toronto Star
2 days ago
- Toronto Star
Mexico's first judicial elections cause confusion and concern among voters
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico held its first-ever judicial elections on Sunday, stirring controversy and sowing confusion among voters still struggling to understand a process set to transform the country's court system. The election appeared to get off to a slow start. Some voting centers in Mexico City, the Gulf coast state of Veracruz and the southern state of Chiapas opened with no one or only a handful of people waiting to vote. Experts had warned that turnout in the historic elections could be extremely low, due to the mindboggling array of unfamiliar choices and the fact that voting for judges is entirely new. Mexico's ruling party, Morena, overhauled the court system late last year, fueling protests and criticism that the reform is an attempt by those in power to seize on their political popularity to gain control of the branch of government until now out of their reach. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'It's an effort to control the court system, which has been a sort of thorn in the side' of those in power, said Laurence Patin, director of the legal organization Juicio Justo in Mexico. 'But it's a counter-balance, which exists in every healthy democracy.' Now, instead of judges being appointed on a system of merit and experience, Mexican voters will choose between some 7,700 candidates vying for more than 2,600 judicial positions. In a middle-class Mexico City neighborhood, poll workers organized the color-coded ballots by federal and local contests. Four people were waiting to vote when the location opened. Esteban Hernández, a 31-year-old veterinary student, said he didn't agree with electing judges and doesn't support Morena, but came to vote because 'since there isn't much participation, my vote will count more.' He had studied the candidates on a website listing their qualifications and decided to pick those who had doctorates. At the same polling place, Octavio Arellano, a 67-year-old consultant, quickly made his selections, referring to handwritten notes he carried with him. He's also a critic of the process, but voted for members of the Supreme Court, as well as disciplinary and electoral tribunals, to 'influence the most important' races. He said he spoiled his votes for the local judicial positions. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW At a polling place in a park in Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala, Francisco Torres de León, a 62-year-old retired teacher, came prepared, having studied the ballots and his selections. He marked all the ballots in about five minutes, but even so, said, 'the process is laborious because there are too many candidates and positions that they're going to occupy.' Hugo de León Roblero, 73, also a retired teacher, took about 20 minutes to fill out the ballots at the same polling place, but supported the process, which he said was a necessary change, 'even though there's some confusion about how to vote.' Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum and party allies have said the elections are a way to purge the court system of corruption in a country that has long faced high levels of impunity. Critics say the vote could damage democracy and open the judicial system up further to organized crime and other corrupt actors hoping to get a grip on power. Sheinbaum posted on X a photo of herself and her husband voting near the National Palace, adding 'Long live democracy! Long live the new judiciary!' Her predecessor and political mentor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had pushed through the judicial reform, but remained out of the public eye since leaving office last year, voted in Chiapas Sunday near his ranch. 'I wanted to participate in this historic election,' he said. 'Never in the history of our country … have the people decided and had the right to elect judges.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The process however had raised concerns. Civil society organizations like Defensorxs have raised red flags about a range of candidates running for election, including lawyers who represented some of Mexico's most feared cartel leaders and local officials who were forced to resign from their positions due to corruption scandals. Also among those putting themselves forward are ex-convicts imprisoned for years for drug-trafficking to the United States and a slate of candidates with ties to a religious group whose spiritual leader is behind bars in California after pleading guilty to sexually abusing minors. At the same time, voters have been plagued by confusion over a voting process that Patin warned has been hastily thrown together. Voters often have to choose from sometimes more than a hundred candidates who are not permitted to clearly voice their party affiliation or carry out widespread campaigning. As a result, many Mexicans say they're going into the vote blind. Mexico's electoral authority has investigated voter guides being handed out across the country, in what critics say is a blatant move by political parties to stack the vote in their favor. 'Political parties weren't just going to sit with their arms crossed,' Patin said. Miguel Garcia, a 78-year-old former construction worker, stood in front of the country's Supreme Court on Friday peering at a set of posters, voter guides with the faces and numbers of candidates. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW He was fiercely scribbling down their names on a small scrap of paper and said that he had traveled across Mexico City to try to inform himself ahead of the vote, but he couldn't find any information other than outside the courthouse. 'In the neighborhood where I live, there's no information for us,' he said. 'I'm confused, because they're telling us to go out and vote but we don't know who to vote for.' __ AP journalists Edgar H. Clemente in Tapachula, Mexico, Alba Aléman in Xalapa, Mexico and Fernando Llano in Mexico City contributed to this report.
