Mexico votes in first judicial election amid concerns over rule of law
Mexicans vote on Sunday in the country's first ever judicial elections, part of an overhaul of the nation's judiciary that critics warn could jeopardize the rule of law.
The vote will elect 2,600 judges and magistrates, including all Supreme Court justices, and is part of a reform pushed by former president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his protégé and successor President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Lopez Obrador and Sheinbaum say the election will root out corruption in a flawed judiciary dominated by an out-of-touch elite and instead allow people to decide who should be a judge.
But the run-up to the vote has been dominated by a scandal over some of the candidates, including a convicted drug smuggler and a former lawyer of drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman.
Opponents say the overhaul risks removing checks and balances on the ruling Morena party, by appointing judges friendly to their cause, and also allowing organized crime groups greater influence over the judicial system by running their own candidates.
Mexico joins Bolivia as the only countries worldwide to conduct judicial elections at the national level, though state-level judicial elections are common in the United States and some local Swiss judges are also elected.
Voters on Sunday will cast ballots for Mexico's nine Supreme Court judges, as well as for judges and magistrates across 19 of Mexico's 32 administrative divisions. More than 7,700 candidates are running for judicial posts.
Pollsters expect a poor turnout, in part due to opposition calls to boycott the vote, but also because of the complexity of the process and vast number of candidates to consider.
'In Mexico City we are going to vote for 50 candidates. If even discerning people with access to social media aren't checking the candidates, imagine the people who don't have this access,' 22-year-old accounting student Maria Alejandra Mares told Reuters. 'They're going to vote blind.'
Voting is not mandatory in Mexico and there is no minimum turnout required to legitimize an election.
Just 37% of 1,000 people polled by Buendia & Marquez said they would come out to vote, compared to 61% who participated in the vote last June that elected President Sheinbaum.
The right-wing PAN opposition party has called on supporters to boycott the election, branding it a 'vulgar fraud,' but Sheinbaum has vigorously defended her predecessor's reform and her party has sought to mobilize the grassroots vote.
'We call on you to participate, participate, participate,' Sheinbaum told a news conference on Friday, saying this would help significantly improve the current judiciary. 'Participating is the best way to transform a country.'
Besides mandating the popular election of judges, the judicial reform, promoted last year by former President Lopez Obrador, also reduced the number of Supreme Court judges, shortened terms and eased some requirements such as minimum age and work experience.
The reform's approval by lawmakers last year knocked financial markets, sparked the United States to express concern about a weaker judicial system, and sparked a strike by the country's judicial workers.
'Mexico's justice system was far from perfect, and this new judicial system will not address its shortcomings,' said Rodolfo Ramos, an analyst at Brazilian bank Bradesco BBI.
Ramos said 'the real litmus test' would come when cases against a government action reach the Supreme Court.
Counting is expected to take two weeks, with the results out on June 15.
In 2027, another vote is scheduled to fill over 1,000 more judicial positions.
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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
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's ruling Morena party appeared to be heading toward control over the Supreme Court, preliminary vote tallies of the country's first judicial election indicated. While votes were still being counted for the majority of the 2,600 federal, state and local judge positions up for grabs in Sunday's judicial elections, results rolled in for the nine Supreme Court positions. The majority of the newly elected justices share strong ties and ideological alignments with the ruling party, shifting a once fairly balanced high court into the hands of the very party that overhauled the judicial system to elect judges for the first time. Experts warned the shift would undercut checks and balances in the Latin American nation: The governing party would now be close to controlling all three branches of government, and President Claudia Sheinbaum and her party also would have a easier path to push through their agenda. 'We're watching as power is falling almost entirely into the hands of one party,' said Georgina De la Fuente, election specialist with the Mexican consulting firm Strategia Electoral. 'There isn't any balance of power.' A Morena-leaning court and an Indigenous justice Some of those headed toward election were members or former members of the party. A number of them, who were Supreme Court justices prior to the election, were appointed by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Sheinbaum's mentor who pushed through the judicial overhaul last year. Others were advisers to the president or the party or campaigned with politically aligned visions for the judiciary. Not all of the prospective winners were explicitly aligned with Morena. One standout was Hugo Aguilar Ortiz, an Indigenous lawyer from the southern state of Oaxaca. He has no clear party affiliation, though Sheinbaum said repeatedly she hoped to have an Indigenous judge on the court. 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.' The elections were marred by low participation — about 13% — and confusion by voters who struggled to understand the new voting system, something opponents quickly latched onto as a failure. De la Fuente said Morena is likely to use its new lack of counterweight in the high court to push through rounds of reforms, including electoral changes. Late Monday, more than 85% of the ballots had been tallied and counting was to continue overnight. The leading Supreme Court candidates — Hugo Aguilar Ortiz was the big surprise from the election. The Indigenous lawyer led all vote-getters, including several sitting Supreme Court justices. He's known as a legal activist fighting for the rights of Indigenous Mexicans and has criticized corruption in the judiciary. — Lenia Batres was already a Supreme Court justice and was appointed by López Obrador. 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. She has a long history as a public servant and work in labor law and on a number of Indigenous issues. — Giovanni Figueroa Mejía is a lawyer from the Pacific coast state of Nayarit with a doctorate in constitutional law. He currently works as an academic at the Iberoamericana University in Mexico City. He's worked in human rights. While he holds no clear party affiliation, he supported the judicial overhaul pushed forward by Morena, saying in an interview with his university that the overhaul 'was urgent and necessary in order to rebuild' the judiciary. He said some of his work in constitutional law was cited in justifying the reform. — Irving Espinosa Betanzo is a magistrate on Mexico City's Supreme Court and has previously worked as a congressional adviser to Morena. He campaigned for the country's highest court on a platform of eliminating nepotism and corruption and pushing for human rights. — Arístides Rodrigo Guerrero García is a law professor pushing for social welfare with no experience as a judge, but who has worked as a public servant and has experience in both constitutional and parliamentary law. He gained traction in campaigns for a social media video of him claiming he's 'more prepared than a pork rind.' — Sara Irene Herrerías Guerra is a prosecutor specializing in human rights for Mexico's Attorney General's Office. She's worked on issues like gender equality, sexually transmitted infections and human trafficking. In 2023, she worked on the investigation of a fire in an immigration facility in the border city of Ciudad Juárez that killed 40 migrants.
Toronto Star
a day ago
- Toronto Star
Mexico's president defends first judicial election despite low turnout and democratic criticism
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday defended a judicial election meant to transform the country's court system, as poll workers tallied votes after a weekend marked by low turnout, confusion and criticism. Polls closed Sunday night with the question hanging in the air of what will become of Mexico's judiciary, the answer to which will only emerge in the coming days as results roll in. The vote is set to transform the country's court system.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Mexico's first judicial elections are marked by low turnout, confusion and disillusionment
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico held its first-ever judicial elections Sunday, stirring controversy and sowing confusion among voters who struggled to understand a process set to transform the country's court system. Polls closed and poll workers began counting colored ballots Sunday night with the question hanging in the air of what will become of Mexico's judiciary, the answer to which will only emerge in the coming days as results roll in. Mexico's electoral authority announced late in the night that 13% of Mexico's 100 million voters cast ballots at the polls, lagging far behind the 60% turnout just a year before during the country's presidential election. Nevertheless, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called the voting 'a complete success.' 'Mexico is the most democratic country in the world,' she added. Experts warned of startling low turnout in the lead up to the historic elections due to the mindboggling array of unfamiliar choices and the novelty of voting for judges. Experts say those factors may throw into question the legitimacy of the election, which has faced months of fierce scrutiny. Sheinbaum, a member of Mexico's ruling party, Morena, rejected the criticisms and insisted the election would only only make Mexico more democratic and root out corruption in a system that most people in the country believe is broken. 'Whoever says that there is authoritarianism in Mexico is lying,' she said. 'Mexico is a country that is only becoming more free, just and democratic because that is the will of the people.' While some voters said they felt pushed to vote in an election they felt would determine the fate of the country's democracy, many more expressed a deep sense of apathy, citing disillusionment due to decades of corruption and lack of basic information about the vote. 'I'm not interested (in voting). Parties and their messages — they come and they go. 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.
