Turnout low as Mexico votes in controversial judicial election

Despite a sporadic turnout and widespread confusion, the president has referred to a landmark vote to select judges in Mexico as a “success.”

In the vote on overhauling the court system on Sunday, only 13% of eligible voters cast ballots. Although President Claudia Sheinbaum claimed the election would increase democracy in Mexico, critics accused her of trying to overthrow the judiciary, and analysts warned that the election would open the door for criminals to snare influence.

About 880 federal judicial positions, including Supreme Court justices, as well as hundreds of local judges and magistrates, were the focus of Sheinbaum’s and her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s campaign for the election.

However, many voters reported having to make educated choices among a flurry of largely unknown candidates who were prohibited from publicly disclosing their political affiliations or participating in extensive campaigning.

Polling places that are “largely empty”

From Mexico City, John Holman of Al Jazeera reported that polling places were “largely empty.”

The majority of Mexicans prefer something else, he said, “on what the government planned to be a historic day.”

Sheinbaum praised the election as “a complete success” and a “democracy pioneer” in the nation.

The president claimed that Mexico is only growing more free, just, and democratic as a result of the people’s will.

Supporters of the reform claim that it is necessary to remove the corrupt justice system, but Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Lopez Obrador, has previously pushed for it.

The “Painting process”

Experts had warned that despite the sheer volume of candidates and the unfamiliarity of judicial voting, turnout would be unusually low.

Voters “would have to spend hours and hours looking through the track record and the profiles of each of the hundreds of candidates,” according to David Shirk, a professor at the University of San Diego.

Voters at the polls expressed similar opinions.

Lucia Calderon, a 63-year-old teacher at a university, said, “We are not very prepared.” “I believe more information is required.”

The process is “painstaking because there are too many candidates and positions that they’re going to fill,” according to Francisco Torres de Leon, a 62-year-old retired teacher in southern Mexico.

Analysts and human rights organizations expressed concern that powerful criminal organizations might use the elections to further ensnare the justice system.

Although there is already corruption, “there is reason to believe that elections may be more prone to organised crime than other judicial selection techniques,” according to Margaret Satterthwaite, the UN special rapporteur on the legal and independent practice of judges and lawyers.

Although no criminal record, no criminal record, and a “good reputation” were all prerequisites for candidates, some had connections to organized crime and corruption scandals.

About 20 candidates are listed by the rights group Defensorxs as “high risk,” including former Sinaloa cartel cofounder Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s lawyer Silvia Delgado.

Another candidate, from Durango, previously spent nearly six years in a US prison for drug offenses.