Politics: Judicial elections—a setback for democracy and success for the 4T’s authoritarian impulses
Mexico’s first ever judicial elections were held on June 1. While they were significant for a variety of reasons, there were no big surprises. The elections were the concretization of Morena, AMLO, and Claudia Sheinbaum’s judicial reform, justified as a way of correcting the “country’s universally recognized corrupt and inefficient judicial system and a step forward for popular democracy”. When the dust settled, however, the voter turnout was a paltry 13%. In addition, there were many “spoiled” or blank ballots cast, six times the usual amount. This would bring the real figure for voter participation down to 9%-10%.
Furthermore, voting was extremely complicated. Voters had to cast 9-10 ballots with hundreds of candidates listed, virtually all of whom were completely unknown to the public. Electoral authorities severely restricted campaigning, political parties were barred from any involvement, and candidates could not accept outside financing for their campaigns.
The opposition had called for a boycott, rejecting the very idea of the popular election of the judiciary and how it was concretized by the electoral authorities. In addition, most sitting judges, justices, and magistrates refused to participate as candidates for reelection.
In the aftermath of the vote, critics questioned the election’s legitimacy based on two main considerations: the abysmally low turnout and the illegal pressure on citizens, especially beneficiaries of government wellbeing programs, to participate and vote for what were, de-facto, pre-selected candidate lists. In addition, there are doubts as to who will control the elected judges: AMLO, Sheinbaum or national or local powers that be.
Many analysts predict severe consequences on the political level in terms of the independence, autonomy, and efficiency of the judicial system. The fear is that judges, most of whom do not have the necessary experience on the bench, will be beholden to the political actors who helped get them elected. And on the economic level, a further weakening of the rule of law can be expected to affect business and investor certainty.
The next round of judicial elections is slated for 2027, to coincide with mid-term elections, when the rest of the country’s judges and magistrates will be elected.
Now read on...
Register to sample a report