Mexico votes on judges amid El Chapo scandal and rule of law fears
Critics fear the overhaul risks judicial independence, but President Claudia Sheinbaum says the election will root out corruption in a flawed judiciary
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 jeopardise 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 organised 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.