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New York Times
a day ago
- Business
- New York Times
Low Turnout in Mexico's Far-Reaching Judicial Election Fuels Legitimacy Concerns
Mexico's sweeping reorganization of its judicial system got off to a rocky start. The nationwide election of thousands of judges over the weekend was marked by an exceptionally high level of abstention, with nearly 90 percent of voters opting not to take part. Only 12.6 percent to 13.3 percent of voters cast ballots in Sunday's election, according to estimates from the national electoral authority, fueling legitimacy concerns. That means the contentious judicial election had one of the lowest turnouts in any federal election since the early 2000s, when Mexico transitioned to a democracy. The dismal turnout points to the confusion and indecision across the country over the election, which shifts the judiciary from an appointment-based system to one in which voters choose judges. Supporters of the plan have argued that it makes the system more democratic, while critics have characterized it as a power grab by the governing leftist Morena party. Some voters who did turn out expressed puzzlement over the bewildering number of candidates vying for nearly 2,700 judgeships, including those who will sit on the Supreme Court and hundreds of other federal and local tribunals. Electoral monitoring groups reported that several voters simply used cheat sheets provided by Morena, President Claudia Sheinbaum's party. 'It did not seem to me to be a democratic exercise — it was a clear attempt to manipulate the vote,' said Laurence Pantin, an expert on judicial independence and director of Juicio Justo, or Fair Trial, a nonprofit organization that seeks to broaden access to justice in Mexico. Ms. Pantin and other volunteers said they had detected several irregularities on Sunday, including voters carrying printed sheets indicating which candidates to select, multiple people entering voting booths at once and voters taking photos of their filled ballots — a possible indication of vote buying. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- General
- Al Jazeera
Turnout low as Mexico votes in controversial judicial election
A landmark vote to select judges in Mexico has been labelled a 'success' by the president despite a sparse turnout and widespread confusion. Just 13 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in Sunday's vote to overhaul the court system. President Claudia Sheinbaum proclaimed that the election would make Mexico more democratic, but critics accused her of seeking to take control of the judiciary, while analysts warned it could open the way for criminals to seize influence. The vote, a cornerstone policy of Sheinbaum and predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, aimed to fill about 880 federal judicial positions, including Supreme Court justices, as well as hundreds of local judges and magistrates. But many voters said they struggled to make informed choices among a flood of largely unknown candidates, who were barred from openly disclosing party affiliations or engaging in widespread campaigning. Al Jazeera's John Holman reported from Mexico City that polling stations were 'largely empty'. 'On what the government planned to be a historic day, the majority of Mexicans prefer to do something else,' he said. Still, Sheinbaum hailed the election as 'a complete success' that makes the country a democratic trailblazer. 'Mexico is a country that is only becoming more free, just and democratic because that is the will of the people,' the president said. The reform, defended by supporters as necessary to cleanse a corrupt justice system, was originally championed by Sheinbaum's predecessor, Lopez Obrador, who frequently clashed with the old judiciary. Experts had warned that turnout would be unusually low due to the sheer number of candidates and the unfamiliarity of judicial voting. To be properly informed, voters 'would have to spend hours and hours researching the track record and the profiles of each of the hundreds of candidates', said David Shirk, a professor at the University of San Diego. That concern was echoed by voters at the polls. 'We are not very prepared,' said Lucia Calderon, a 63-year-old university teacher. 'I think we need more information.' Francisco Torres de Leon, 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'. Beyond logistical challenges, analysts and rights groups raised fears that powerful criminal groups could use the elections to further infiltrate the judiciary. While corruption already exists, 'there is reason to believe that elections may be more easily infiltrated by organised crime than other methods of judicial selection', said Margaret Satterthwaite, the United Nations special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers. Although all candidates were supposed to have legal experience, no criminal record and a 'good reputation', several have been linked to organised crime and corruption scandals. Rights group Defensorxs identified about 20 candidates it considers 'high risk', including Silvia Delgado, a former lawyer for Sinaloa cartel cofounder Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman. Another candidate, in Durango state, previously served nearly six years in a US prison for drug offences. Election results are expected in the coming days. A second round of judicial elections is scheduled for 2027 to fill hundreds more positions.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Mexico judicial elections: Government calls it essential reform. Critics say it's a farce
Hyper-democracy or ruling-party power play? That is the question as Mexicans go to the polls Sunday to elect the country's judges in a radical reshaping of the nation's power structure. At a time when many observers fear that President Trump is targeting judicial independence in the U.S., lawmakers here have opted to revamp the judiciary in a landmark — and extremely divisive — reform. Mexico, which has never before voted for judges, will become the first country to have an all-elected judiciary. The unprecedented vote has generated both widespread controversy and profound confusion as thousands of candidates vie for close to 900 federal judicial slots, including all nine on the Supreme Court. Polls have shown that many Mexicans are both skeptical and apathetic— and have no idea whom to favor among the vast array of mostly unknown contenders, some with links to organized crime. At least one candidate served time in a U.S. prison for methamphetamine smuggling, and several others have represented drug traffickers, including one would-be judge who was on the legal team of cartel kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. Read more: So what really happened at the cartel training site dubbed 'Mexican Auschwitz'? "I've participated in elections all my life, but this will be the first time that I won't vote," said Marcelo Díaz, 68, a retiree in the capital. "I don't have any idea who the candidates are, or what they stand for." Supporters of the election, led by President Claudia Sheinbaum, hail the transition as a blow against impunity. Critics denounce the move as Mexico's latest step toward authoritarian rule in a country where Sheinbaum's Morena bloc dominates at the federal and state levels. More than half of the country's more than 1,500 federal judge and magistrate posts will be up for grabs on Sunday, and the rest in 2027. Voters in 19 states will be choosing almost 2,000 regional judges. Sheinbaum and her allies call the shake-up a necessary makeover of an ossified system riven with corruption and nepotism. Under the current system, the president says, judges routinely spring organized crime figures, tax cheats and other well-to-do criminals, while impunity for murder and other crimes is the norm. Detention of poor suspects may drag on for years without trials. "Now they accuse us of being authoritarian," Sheinbaum said recently, rejecting criticism of the elections. "How can this be authoritarian if the people decide?" While conceding shortcomings in the current judiciary, opponents label the elections a move toward a one-party state. Even though the balloting is officially nonpartisan, many anticipate that candidates close to the ruling party will dominate. Critics predict the weakening of checks and balances. "That the judicial system doesn't work as it should work, and hasn't worked, is a given," wrote columnist Denise Maerker in Mexico's Milenio news outlet. "Corruption reigns and the rich and most powerful triumph. But this is not a remedy — it's a demolition." Previously, expert panels appointed judges after a screening process that involved judicial administrators, exams and evaluations. The president appointed Supreme Court justices, with Senate consent. In the new system, qualifications are rudimentary. Among other requirements, aspiring jurists must possess law degrees, have at least five years of legal work experience, and certify their "good reputation" and lack of criminal convictions. Even ruling-party stalwarts have conceded serious deficiencies in the new system. Last month, Sen. Gerardo Fernández Noroña called for the scrapping of at least 20 candidates identified as having possible links to organized crime. The electoral commission said it was too late to remove them from the ballot. Among the candidates in Chihuahua state is Silvia Rocío Delgado, a one-time lawyer for the notorious "El Chapo" Guzmán, now serving a life sentence in the United States for narcotics trafficking, murder and other crimes. "There shouldn't be a stigma" for having represented El Chapo, Delgado told Univisión Noticias. "If people vote for me, I will seek impartiality of justice for both sides." Read more: 17 members of a cartel kingpin's family were escorted into California from Mexico. Why? Seeking office in the northwestern state of Durango is Leopoldo Javier Chávez Vargas. He has acknowledged having served almost six years in U.S. custody for methamphetamine trafficking. "I have never presented myself as the perfect candidate," Chávez said in a Facebook video. But, he added, "I will be a judge who will listen attentively to your stories." The tentacles of organized crime reach deep into Mexico's political and judicial order. Judges are often targets. Since 2012, at least 17 Mexican judges and six clerks have been killed in connection with their work, according to the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based research organization. "There is little doubt that a fully independent, competent justice system is essential if Mexico's wave of violence is to end," the group concluded in a report on Mexico's judicial elections. Sheinbaum has defended the revamped process, saying that only "a very small percentage" of candidates appear unqualified. Many candidates have previously served as judges or clerks. The 64 contenders for nine seats on the Supreme Court include three sitting justices, Lenia Batres Guadarrama, Yasmin Esquivel and Loretta Ortiz. Among the candidates for lower judicial posts is Delia Quiroa, 42, who has spent years providing legal advice to families seeking to trace the fates of "disappeared" relatives. Quiroa founded a search group for the missing after her brother was kidnapped in 2014. He was never seen again. "A lot of people say we can't do anything because of threats from organized crime, or we don't have qualified people," said Quiroa, who is running in northwest Sinaloa state, an epicenter of cartel violence. "I've seen the problems in the courts. It's time to demand a change." While generating political polemics, Sunday's vote has not triggered the raucous street rallies that generally accompany Mexican balloting. Much of the campaigning has unfolded on social media, where would-be judges with limited public profiles hype their bona fides. Ballots do not denote political affiliations; political parties are banned from bankrolling candidates. Instead, candidates must rely on self-funding, which tends to favor the wealthy. One recent poll showed that almost half of Mexicans weren't even aware that that vote was happening. And those who do come out to vote will have to grapple with a convoluted, color-coded assemblage of ballots listing hundreds of names, all with corresponding numbers. Atop each ballot are circles into which voters must fill in the numbers associated with their preferred candidates. A running joke here is that learning the mechanics of voting may be more challenging than deciding whom to vote for. "The truth is I don't understand one bit how we are to vote," said Rosa María Castro, 54, a housewife in Mexico City. "It all looks very complicated." Read more: Trump wants to attack drug cartels. How can Mexico respond if he does? The elections are the brainchild of ex-President Andrès Manuel López Obrador — who, like Trump, often clashed with the judiciary, complaining that unelected judges were thwarting his aspirations for a "transformation" of Mexican society. In 2024, near the end of his six-year-term, López Obrador proposed amending the constitution to mandate judicial elections. Outraged judicial employees staged disruptive street protests, but to no avail. The Morena-dominated Congress fast-tracked the constitutional changes. Sunday's vote will be the culmination of the ex-president's vision for a people's court. It's a leap into the unknown for a country where so many long ago lost faith in the concept of justice. "The success of President Sheinbaum's plans to dismantle criminal organizations and prosecute violent crime more effectively will rest on an able, impartial judiciary," the International Crisis group wrote. "For now, however, opinions remain divided as to whether the country's grand experiment in direct election of judges will remedy longstanding failings — or just recast and possibly exacerbate them." McDonnell and Linthicum are staff writers, Sánchez Vidal a special correspondent. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Reuters
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Judges on the ballot in Mexico
Follow on Apple or Spotify. Listen on the Reuters app. Mexicans will vote for judges for the first time in a June 1 election. The shift from appointed judges has faced criticism, fueled by fears that organized crime may gain more influence. The government says electing judges will help root out corruption. On this episode of Reuters World News, Cassandra Garrison joins us from Mexico City to meet the judges on the ballot. Further Reading Mexican judges say judicial reform violated human rights Mexico's Senate to choose judicial candidates by drawing, bypassing evaluation committee Majority of Mexico's Supreme Court justices resigns after judicial reform
