Mexico's first judicial elections fuel confusion and disillusionment among voters

MEXICO CITY — Mexico held its first-ever judicial elections on Sunday, stirring controversy and sowing confusion among voters still struggling to understand a process set to transform the country's court system.

Polls closed and poll workers began counting colored ballots on Sunday evening with the question hanging in the air of what will become of Mexico's judiciary, the answer to which will only emerge in the coming days as results roll in.

Voter turnout seemed to lag significantly, something experts warned of in the lead up to the historic elections due to the mindboggling array of unfamiliar choices and the fact that voting for judges is new. Experts say that low turnout may throw into question the legitimacy of the election, which has already faced months of fierce scrutiny.

While some voters said they felt pushed to vote in an election they felt would determine the fate of the country's democracy, many more expressed a deep sense of apathy, citing disillusionment due to decades of corruption and lack of basic information about the vote.

''I'm not interested (in voting). Parties and their messages – they come and they go. It's all the same,'' said Raul Bernal, a 50-year-old factory worker in downtown Mexico City walking is dog.

Yet the vote is set to transform Mexico's judiciary. Mexico's ruling party, Morena, overhauled the court system late last year, fueling protests and criticism that the reform is an attempt by those in power to seize on their political popularity to gain control of the branch of government until now out of their reach.

''It's an effort to control the court system, which has been a sort of thorn in the side" of those in power, said Laurence Patin, director of the legal organization Juicio Justo in Mexico. ''But it's a counter-balance, which exists in every healthy democracy.''

A historic vote

Now, instead of judges being appointed on a system of merit and experience, Mexican voters have cast ballots to choose between some 7,700 candidates vying for more than 2,600 judicial positions.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, of Morena, rejected criticisms after voting on Sunday in a press conference, insisting that the election would only only make Mexico more democratic, and root out corruption in a system that most Mexicans believe is broken.

''Whoever says that there is authoritarianism in Mexico is lying,'' she said. ''Mexico is a country that is only becoming more free, just and democratic because that is the will of the people.''

Some voting centers throughout the country opened with only a trickle of people, and small lines forming throughout the day.

Esteban Hernández, a 31-year-old veterinary student, said he didn't agree with electing judges and doesn't support Morena, but came to vote because ''since there isn't much participation, my vote will count more.''

He had studied the candidates on a website listing their qualifications and decided to pick those who had doctorates. Other critics said they only voted for the Supreme Court, and other top courts. Francisco Torres de León, a 62-year-old retired teacher in southern Mexico, called the process "painstaking because there are too many candidates and positions that they're going to fill.''

Democratic concerns

Sheinbaum's predecessor and political mentor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had pushed through the judicial reform, but remained out of the public eye since leaving office last year, also voted in Chiapas Sunday near his ranch.

''I wanted to participate in this historic election,'' he said. ''Never in the history of our country … have the people decided and had the right to elect judges.''

The process however had raised concerns.

Civil society organizations like Defensorxs have raised red flags about a range of candidates running for election, including lawyers who represented some of Mexico's most feared cartel leaders and local officials who were forced to resign from their positions due to corruption scandals.

Also among those putting themselves forward are ex-convicts imprisoned for years for drug trafficking to the United States and a slate of candidates with ties to a religious group whose spiritual leader is behind bars in California after pleading guilty to sexually abusing minors.

Though others like Martha Tamayo, a lawyer and former congresswoman from conflict-ravaged Sinaloa, cast doubt on projections that the election could hand even more power over to criminals and criminal groups, simply because they already have a strong control over courts.

''The influence of criminal groups already exists,'' she said. ''The cartels go with the judges (bribe them) whether they are elected or not.''

Voter confusion

At the same time, voters have been plagued by confusion over a voting process that Patin warned has been hastily thrown together. Voters often have to choose from sometimes more than a hundred candidates who are not permitted to clearly voice their party affiliation or carry out widespread campaigning.

As a result, many Mexicans say they're going into the vote blind, though others voting on Sunday noted they supported the process despite the confusion. Mexico's electoral authority has investigated voter guides being handed out across the country, in what critics say is a blatant move by political parties to stack the vote in their favor.

''Political parties weren't just going to sit with their arms crossed,'' Patin said.

Though others a 61-year-old actor Manuel José Contreras, still unsure if his vote would improve access to justice for many Mexicans, defended the election, Sheinbaum and her party. He cast his ballot with a tone of hope on Sunday.

''The reform has its problems but we needed an urgent change,'' he said. ''You have to start with something.''

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AP journalists Edgar H. Clemente in Tapachula, Mexico, Alba Aléman in Xalapa, Mexico and Fernando Llano in Mexico City contributed to this report.