Mexico is set to become the only country in the world to give voters the right to choose all its judges, although there is strong disagreement about the negative or positive effects of this move on the judicial system.
According to a report by the one of the international news agency, voters will choose judges at all levels, from the Supreme Court to lower courts, after the government reforms, and the government’s position is that the move is necessary to end rampant corruption and impunity.
On the other hand, critics say that the government’s move will limit the independence of the judiciary and that the goal of cleaning the judiciary from corruption by appointing controversial candidates such as the former lawyer of notorious drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman will not be achieved.
It should be noted that voters in Mexico will elect several thousand federal, district and local judges and magistrates on Sunday, with another election for the remaining judges due in 2027. To run for judge, a candidate must have a law degree, legal experience, “good character” and no criminal record.
Opponents, including judicial activists, have staged nationwide protests to block the government’s reforms, but their efforts have been unsuccessful.“Justice is not something you vote for, it requires people with experience and specialized knowledge,” says Olimpia Rojas Luviano, a 28-year-old lawyer.
But Judge Maria del Rocio Morales, who is running for magistrate in the capital, is happy to participate in the elections, saying she wants to do it for the good of her city and her country.
Although this is not the first example of judicial elections; in the United States and Bolivia, for example, some judges are elected by voters, Mexico will be the only country in the world where all judges, from the Supreme Court to lower courts, will be elected by voting.
These judicial reforms were supported by current President Claudia Sheinbaum’s predecessor and mentor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who described the judicial system as “rotten,” corrupt, and serving the interests of political and economic elites.
Mexico has a long history of human rights abuses for which no one has been punished, including the 2014 disappearance of 43 students from a teacher training college allegedly by drug traffickers and corrupt officials, a major incident that has gone unpunished despite dozens of arrests.
According to New York-based Human Rights Watch, Mexico’s criminal justice system is “totally ineffective in ensuring accountability for criminal violence and abuses by security forces.”
