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Los Angeles Times
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Mexico judicial elections: Government calls it essential reform. Critics say it's a farce
MEXICO CITY — 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. '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.' 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.' 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.
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Mexico's judicial reform is now in the hands of confused voters
MEXICO CITY - It's an election unlike any other in Mexico. No sports stadiums packed with the party faithful. The smiling faces of normally omnipresent candidates almost completely absent on TV or glitzy posters. But the stakes couldn't be higher. On Sunday, Mexicans will begin electing judges from among thousands of largely unknown candidates in a vote critics slam as a radical experiment that will mark the end of an independent judiciary. But Mexico's popular President Claudia Sheinbaum, a staunch defender of the election, dismisses the naysayers. She argues the first-of-its-kind election will deepen democracy by transforming the country's courts with jurists trusted by ordinary Mexicans. She insists it will root out corruption and nepotism. The sheer complexity of the vote - featuring at least six color-coded ballots presenting each voter with around 200 hopefuls to consider - promises a more politicized federal judiciary. Skeptics fear it will tilt the courts toward Sheinbaum's populist Morena Party, or in some cases install judges beholden to powerful drug cartels. Companies fret it will make investments much riskier. Nationwide, there are more than 3,000 candidates competing for 881 positions. Last year, as it became clear Morena would enact the judicial overhaul, Mexican assets and the peso currency nosedived. The revamped system will see Mexico join Bolivia as the only other country in the Americas that elects its federal judges, including Supreme Court justices. In the U.S., only some state and local judges are chosen by voters. By law, the sea of candidates can't finance their campaigns with private or public funds, or buy television or radio spots. Parties are also banned from formally backing their favorites and candidates can't hold traditional rallies. Instead, they're limited to social media posts and paying out-of-pocket for travel. It's led to an extremely low-information election. "I didn't know there was an election and I don't know the candidates. I still don't know if I'll participate," said Rocio Catalina, a 64-year-old in Iztapalapa, Mexico City's most populous district. She described the looming election as "very complicated." In a normal election, her neighborhood would have been hit by a tidal wave of campaign posters and brochures doled out by party workers. Not this time. Still, many would-be judges have made the most of limited means to reach voters. Walk to a local market, and you might find a future Supreme Court justice with a megaphone touting her experience. Log on to X or TikTok, and you can watch other aspiring judges dancing in the street. Until recently, you could even find a candidate sweet-talking you on Tinder. Designed by Sheinbaum's party as a way to rid the courts of judges it accused of improperly blocking major initiatives, the imminent upheaval was muscled through Congress late last year thanks to the congressional super-majorities that were swept to power along with her. With just days to go before the election, voters say they have never heard of most of the 3,000-plus hopefuls. 'Justice Chicharrón' If politicians are trained in the art of winning over hearts, judges usually aren't. Campaign strategists offered package deals to promote the ambitions of aspiring judges. Discounts were available for those who accepted multitasking managers juggling a dozen campaigns at once. One candidate compares himself to a crunchy street snack resembling fried pork in a pun-filled video touting his qualifications, and was later dubbed "Justice Chicharrón" online. Another named herself "Dora the Transformer," after the Nickelodeon heroine but also a nod to the political project Sheinbaum inherited from her likeminded predecessor, who hailed his movement as Mexico's fourth historic transformation. Such campaign gimmicks have been embraced in a bid to stand out from the crowd in an election seen attracting only a small fraction of some 100 million eligible voters. José Manuel Urquijo, who heads the consultancy Sentido Común Latinoamérica expects at most a paltry 20% turnout but possibly as low as single-digits. He points to recent referendums that attracted similar participation while citing the lack of well-funded campaigns or voter mobilization efforts. By comparison, around 61% of voters turned out in last year's presidential election. In Mexico, unlike other countries in Latin America, voting is not mandatory. Urquijo, who was also hired to work on a Supreme Court campaign, stresses the novelty of lawyers forced to morph into politicians in short order. "They're unknown people going around and asking for your vote," he said. "And voters are saying, 'Who are you?'" On a recent Sunday, "Justice Chicharrón" Arístides Rodrigo Guerrero walked down a crowded row in the the Mexican capital's biggest fruit and vegetable market, handing out cartoon-decorated pamphlets. He's one of more than 60 registered Supreme Court candidates, and since voters might not remember his name, he had the number 48 emblazoned on his shirt. Using a foam board as a prop, he showed how ballots won't include the logos of any political parties, which in other elections appear next to candidate names. "This time around, you're going to vote by number. And I'm number 48 on the purple ballot," he said. He explained where to write his number and pitched ideas to modernize the courts with artificial intelligence while bringing justice closer to "those who have the least" by holding sessions outside stuffy court chambers. Overall, voters will elect nine Supreme Court justices, five members of the new judicial discipline court in charge of supervising the judiciary, two judges on the top court tasked with resolving election disputes, plus more than 800 other federal judges. Further complicating matters, 19 Mexican states - more than half - will also hold parallel elections for local judges, adding still more pages of ballots to sort through. A fresh start Former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Sheinbaum's predecessor and longtime patron, proposed the election early last year as his six-year term was drawing to a close. His presidency was marked with constant clashes with judges, who he often derided as corrupt and out-of-touch. He was especially angered by Supreme Court rulings that sought to block some of his key priorities, including a push to fast-track the construction of a major tourist train as well as an electricity law that gave dispatch preferences to the state-owned utility. AMLO, as López Obrador is widely known, claimed he was the victim of fraud when he lost earlier presidential bids in 2006 and 2012, but the top electoral court denied his challenges. Its members will now be up for election. The constitutional reforms were enacted in September during AMLO'S final month in office, just as Sheinbaum was gearing up to take over. As the year came to a close, Mexico's peso currency had shed nearly a quarter of its value against the U.S. dollar, its weakest performance since the 2008 financial crisis. Markets worried that more politicized courts would heap additional uncertainty onto Latin America's second-biggest economy. But to its supporters, electing all federal judges simply ensured a fresh start, with half to be voted in on Sunday, the other half in 2027. In general terms, the reform upended a merit-based system marked by exams and evaluations that allowed for a career path within the judiciary, dating back to an earlier reform enacted in the 1990s. The new elections-based system lowers experience and minimum age requirements. Many hopefuls on the ballot have little experience working inside the courts. In the past, the president nominated Supreme Court candidates who then needed a two-thirds Senate vote to be confirmed, a process that required negotiation but by definition was run by political elites. Earlier this month, Fabiana Estrada Tena, another Supreme Court contender, gathered a dozen potential voters in a professor's home, part of her efforts to sway voters. She had previously advised a pair of Supreme Court justices, but now she lamented what she described as rot within the system. "When we talk about the election being a change to democratize justice, it's real," she said. "The Supreme Court has failed the people of Mexico." She argued that the justices have failed to hold authorities accountable, pointing to mishandled cases of criminal negligence and abuse of power. The ballots voters will mark on Sunday also feature gender parity requirements, part of a longstanding push by Mexico's INE electoral authority to ensure equal numbers of men and women in elected office that has led to a dramatic surge of female representation across Mexican politics. 'I hope they deliver' But even the possibility of better representation and more accountability hasn't seemed to break through to most voters. According to poll published by El Financiero earlier this week, 52% say they are little or not at all aware of the election. The same survey also found that the top-ranked candidates include three sitting Supreme Court justices appointed by AMLO, Lenia Batres, Yasmín Esquivel and Loretta Ortiz. They have all signaled some support for Morena priorities. Other polling points to the desire for change. Impunity and corruption are considered the third most important problem in the country by about 27% of the people interviewed for LatAm Pulse, a survey conducted by AtlasIntel for Bloomberg News. Amrit Singh, executive director of the Rule of Law Impact Lab at Stanford Law School in California, speculates that the election could secure a strategic advantage for Morena if it can mobilize its voters. But it remains an open question to what degree political parties or unofficially affiliated unions will effectively amp up turnout machines. Morena's top senators have started a nationwide tour to get out the vote. In northern Nuevo León state, home to the industrial capital of Monterrey, the governor's Movimiento Ciudadano party has signaled its support for several Morena-backed Supreme Court hopefuls, according to a report last week by newspaper Reforma after one of its reporters infiltrated a training meeting for state bureaucrats. Sheinbaum has herself praised the trio of AMLO-nominated Supreme Court justices who are running to remain in their posts, citing their defense of positions her government has taken. Even the ambiguous pamphleteers who follow some candidates around resemble party activists who typically turn out for elections. Non-partisan efforts to juice turnout include a push by conglomerate FEMSA, which has announced it will give a free coffee to voters in its Oxxo corner convenience stores on Sunday. Some who do plan to vote, like Irma Garcia Paniagua, 63, a business owner in the capital, mostly want to see results once the new judges take office. "I hope they deliver what they promise," she said. "Because many times they promise the sun and the stars but when they get in, they completely forget who elected them." Sheinbaum has directed voters to an INE webpage featuring candidate biographies. But wading through all them takes hours. The president posted a how-to-vote video aiming to demystify the process. Roberto Omar Paredes, an aspirant to be a criminal court judge, acknowledges how cumbersome voting will be during an recent hours-long campaign swing on foot that eventually took him to a small restaurant where he touted his credentials to the manager. "I was the best student in my class," he boasted. "So if I kill someone could you help me?" the woman who runs the restaurant asked him with a wry smile. "No," he replied. "But I can help with drug trafficking problems." Both burst out laughing. ______ (With assistance from Kyle Kim.) Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Newsweek
3 days ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
Mexico's Upcoming Election May Redefine Power
This Sunday's election is not just about judges—it's a controversial moment in Mexico's democracy. For some, it marks the end of the rule of law as we know it. For others—and according to the data, the majority—it's the beginning of a long-overdue democratization of the judiciary. Everything depends on your point of view. If you've always had access to the justice system, the election looks like a threat. If you never have, this feels like the first real opportunity for justice. That divide runs deep: polls show Mexico's population is split roughly 60–40 in favor of reform. It's a clash between those who want to preserve the status quo and those who've never benefited from it. A voting station inside a Mexico City high school is pictured. A voting station inside a Mexico City high school is pictured. Getty Images But beyond the controversy, this election gives us a unique window into three key dynamics that will define the rest of this decade: the strength of President Claudia Sheinbaum's leadership within her movement, the rise of a new Indigenous political force, and the capacity of Mexico's most trusted institution—the Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE)—to protect democracy under pressure. First, this election is a test of the president's control. Sheinbaum has a project for the judiciary and made it known—distributing acordeones (candidate cheat sheets) to allies and mobilizers. This isn't a campaign of TV ads and media tours. It's grassroots. It's local operators, governors, unions, NGOs, and party bosses moving votes in coordinated blocs. According to our latest survey, 77 percent of the votes will be mobilized, not spontaneous. This is not about convincing—it's about delivering. Participation will offer the first signal—20 percent would be a political win. Anything lower will almost certainly be read by the president's adversaries as a defeat, or at least a sign of limited control. But turnout alone won't tell the full story. This moment offers a first glimpse not just of loyalty, but of the real mobilization strength of each political bloc—Morena and its allies, the opposition, and the Indigenous movement alike. In about a month, once results are final, we shouldn't be surprised to see that several states controlled by Morena adversaries vote against the president's line—nor should it be shocking if opposition territories quietly back her lists. The political map won't split neatly by party. Instead, it may reveal a deeper realignment—one that cuts across traditional affiliations. And before her first year in office ends, President Sheinbaum will know exactly who's with her—and who isn't. Second, this election marks the most organized Indigenous political effort in decades. With over 23 million Indigenous people in Mexico, their historical relationship with electoral politics has been complex. They've supported causes from the outside—1994's Zapatista uprising, Marichuy's 2017 candidacy—but rarely entered electoral institutions directly. That's changed. Led by Hugo Aguilar Ortiz, Indigenous communities have mobilized not just around identity, but around a structured, credible, and serious ballot. Hugo isn't alone—he's backed by legal scholars, respected professionals, and a powerful community base. This is not a protest candidacy. He's part of a coordinated political project. If he wins, Hugo could become the first Indigenous president of the Supreme Court—and the most powerful Indigenous leader in Mexico since former President Benito Juárez. Third, none of this would be possible without the INE. The INE isn't just an electoral organizer; it's the institutional memory of Mexico's democratic transition. It was built after decades of fraud to guarantee that votes are counted, verified, and trusted. While elections in the U.S. rely heavily on local discretion and good faith, Mexico's system is designed around safeguards, not trust. Every step is certified, reviewed, and secured. This election has tested the INE like never before: thousands of candidates, multiple new ballots, limited funding, and intense political pressure. Despite all that, the system is holding. Yes, the rollout has been messy. Yes, some rules came too late. But the election is happening, and the votes will be counted. And in a country with our history, that fact alone is no small victory. This isn't just a judicial election. It's a map. A test. A reckoning. And a mirror. It will tell us what kind of democracy Mexico wants, and more importantly, who really holds power in the Mexico being built. Roberto Trad is a Mexican political scientist and author with over 25 years of experience advising presidential and local campaigns across Latin America and the United States. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
3 days ago
- Politics
Will Mexico's judicial elections hurt democracy or make the courts accountable?
MEXICO CITY -- Mexicans will vote in the country's first judicial elections Sunday. The fiercely debated question is whether electing judges will deepen democratic decay or purge courts of rampant corruption and impunity. The vote comes as power in Mexico has been increasingly concentrated in the popular president's office, and as organized crime wields significant political influence in many parts of the country. Critics worry that electing judges will weaken checks and balances on government and stack the courts in favor of the ruling party. Judges and court staff previously earned their positions through merit and experience. Now the election has more than 7,700 candidates vying for more than 2,600 judicial positions, including on Mexico's Supreme Court. Hundreds more positions will be elected in 2027. 'We've never seen something like this before. What Mexico is doing is like an experiment, and we don't know what the outcome of it will be,' said Carin Zissis, director of the Council of the Americas' Washington office. Mexico's judicial elections will pick judges across every level of government, an unprecedented situation globally. Former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador led the push for the overhaul. The highly popular leader was long at odds with Mexican courts, which regularly struck down reform proposals and halted projects they called an overreach of executive power. López Obrador went as far as publicly criticizing judges in his press briefings. Last September, after dominating presidential and legislative elections, his Morena party jammed the constitutional reform through congress. His ally and successor, President Claudia Sheinbaum, has continued to champion it. The overhaul notably put limits on the Supreme Court's power to widely block presidential actions and laws, and set up a disciplinary tribunal for judges. 'The way I see it, the Supreme Court is going to once again become irrelevant, just like it was in the old days of authoritarian rule ... when its ability to monitor constitutionality was basically null,' said Rafael Estada, a constitutional historian. Sheinbaum and López Obrador have asserted that by popularly electing judges, they can root out corruption in the judiciary and bring the branch closer to the people. 'Who is going to choose the judges on the court now? The Mexican people. That's the big difference between what once was and what now is,' Sheinbaum said Monday as she called on Mexicans to vote. 'And that,' she added, 'is democracy.' Many on the ballot won a lottery after being screened by committees made up of people from the three branches of government — two of which are controlled by the president's party. To qualify, candidates need a law degree, five years of professional experience, an essay and letters of recommendation from friends and colleagues. 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. 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. 'The judiciary has a lot of scores to settle in this country,' said Georgina De la Fuente, election specialist with the Mexican consulting firm Strategia Electoral. 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.' 'The way in which this reform was designed does not give people greater access to justice. It was designed to take control of the judiciary and blur the division of powers,' De la Fuente said. 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. Zissis, of Council of the Americas, said the reforms could increase instability in the region at a time of rapid political change. Mexico's government has been working furiously to talk U.S. President Donald Trump down from tariff threats and meet demands by his administration to crack down on organized crime. At the same time, Trump has been locked in political fights with courts trying to block various actions. The turmoil could hurt international investment in Mexico if investors believe their money is less secure, Zissis said. 'It feels like Mexico is opening a Pandora's box," she said.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Will Mexico's judicial elections hurt democracy or make courts accountable?
Image: AP Mexicans will vote in the country's first judicial elections Sunday. The fiercely debated question is whether electing judges will deepen democratic decay or purge courts of rampant corruption and impunity. The vote comes as power in Mexico has been increasingly concentrated in the popular president's office, and as organised crime wields significant political influence in many parts of the country. Critics worry that electing judges will weaken checks and balances on government and stack the courts in favour of the ruling party. Judges and court staff previously earned their positions through merit and experience. Now the election has more than 7,700 candidates vying for more than 2,600 judicial positions, including on Mexico's Supreme Court. Hundreds more positions will be elected in 2027. 'We've never seen something like this before. What Mexico is doing is like an experiment, and we don't know what the outcome of it will be,' said Carin Zissis, director of the Council of the Americas' Washington office. Mexico's ruling party overhauls the courts Mexico's judicial elections will pick judges across every level of government, an unprecedented situation globally. Former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador led the push for the overhaul. The highly popular leader was long at odds with Mexican courts, which regularly struck down reform proposals and halted projects they called an overreach of executive power. Lopez Obrador went as far as publicly criticising judges in his press briefings. Last September, after dominating presidential and legislative elections, his Morena party jammed the constitutional reform through congress. His ally and successor, President Claudia Sheinbaum, has continued to champion it. The overhaul notably put limits on the Supreme Court's power to widely block presidential actions and laws, and set up a disciplinary tribunal for judges. 'The way I see it, the Supreme Court is going to once again become irrelevant, just like it was in the old days of authoritarian rule ... when its ability to monitor constitutionality was basically null,' said Rafael Estada, a constitutional historian. Sheinbaum and Lopez Obrador have asserted that by popularly electing judges, they can root out corruption in the judiciary and bring the branch closer to the people. 'Who is going to choose the judges on the court now? The Mexican people. That's the big difference between what once was and what now is,' Sheinbaum said Monday as she called on Mexicans to vote. 'And that,' she added, 'is democracy.' Many on the ballot won a lottery after being screened by committees made up of people from the three branches of government — two of which are controlled by the president's party. To qualify, candidates need a law degree, five years of professional experience, an essay and letters of recommendation from friends and colleagues. 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. 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. 'The judiciary has a lot of scores to settle in this country,' said Georgina De la Fuente, election specialist with the Mexican consulting firm Strategia Electoral. But critics say the ruling party is simply politicising 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.' 'The way in which this reform was designed does not give people greater access to justice. It was designed to take control of the judiciary and blur the division of powers,' De la Fuente said. Opening a 'Pandora's box' Others warn that the overhaul could open the judiciary to questionable judges and allow organised 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' Guzman, 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. Zissis, of Council of the Americas, said the reforms could increase instability in the region at a time of rapid political change. Mexico's government has been working furiously to talk US President Donald Trump down from tariff threats and meet demands by his administration to crack down on organised crime. At the same time, Trump has been locked in political fights with courts trying to block various actions. The turmoil could hurt international investment in Mexico if investors believe their money is less secure, Zissis said. 'It feels like Mexico is opening a Pandora's box," she said.
