by Allan Wall
Mexico is moving into some unexplored territory, both for itself and for the world.
On June 1st, 2025, Mexico held its first-ever judicial elections. The country is adopting a system in which all judges, at all levels, are elected. No other country does this. Think of it as an experiment. Now the world can see how it turns out.
This reform was adopted during the last month of the previous President AMLO’s term. Current president Claudia Sheinbaum was AMLO’s protege.
Late in the day on June 1st, President Sheinbaum was upbeat about the election, declaring that “The historic judicial election of June 1, 2025, has been a complete success.”
Sheinbaum described the election thusly: “Close to 13 million Mexicans went out to exercise for the first time in history their right to decide who should be the new ministers, magistrates and judges.”
This reform has been widely criticized, and opposition parties called for a boycott. Election boycotts are called for when the election is seen to be illegitimate. The problem, though, for those who call for a boycott is that they are ceding their voice in the process.
The ballots were complicated. There were six of them.
Here is a photo of some of the ballots. The Supreme Court ballot is on top. The left two columns list 33 female candidates, and the right two columns list 31 male candidates. The voter is asked to vote for four male candidates and five female candidates. Mexico’s new Supreme Court is to have 9 justices.
Turnout was low, with about 13 million turning out to vote. Since the Mexican electorate is just shy of 100 million, that means 13% of the electorate showed up.
Contrast that to the 60% who voted in last year’s presidential election.
It’s probably a combination of lack of interest, the newness and complication of the process, the boycott calls, and the fact that, just as in the U.S., it’s harder to get voters to turn out for non-presidential elections.
AMLO himself, the architect of the reform, has kept a low profile since leaving office on October 1st, 2024. AMLO showed up to vote at his voting station in Chiapas. Upon his arrival, the former president declared that “We have the best president in the world.” AMLO also said that “It gives me great joy to live in a free and democratic country.”
by Allan Wall for Mexico News Report
Source: Mexico News Report
