Last September, when AMLO was still president, the Mexican government passed a judicial reform which stipulates that all judges, at all levels, will be elected. Mexico is to be the only country in the world to do that.
These elections are scheduled for June 1st, on a Sunday, the day of the week on which Mexican elections are held. This will be Mexico’s first judicial election. Winners are to be chosen by plurality vote.
From the Associated Press: “More than 2,600 contenders are vying for 881 positions from Mexico’s Supreme Court down to district courts across the country. In 2027, another election is planned to elect 800 more judicial positions. Those on the June 1 ballots won a lottery after being screened by committees made up of people from the three branches of government. In order to qualify, they had to have a law degree, at least five years of professional practice, write an essay and collect letters of recommendation from friends and colleagues.”
The Mexican Supreme Court is changing from being an 11-judge court to a nine-judge court, as in the United States. The Supreme Court judges are to serve 12-year terms. Formerly they served 15-year terms.
Besides the Supreme Court, judicial positions up for election are
1. Two magistrates on the Mexican electoral court, the TEPJF.
2. Fifteen magistrates of the Regional Chambers of TEPJF.
3. Five Judicial Disciplinary Tribunal judges.
4. Four hundred and sixty-four circuit court magistrates.
5. Three Hundred and eighty-six district court judges.
If you add up all the judges from the Supreme Court and those five categories, the total is 881, which are the “881 positions” reported above by the Associated Press.
In addition, in 19 states there are 4362 positions up for grabs in local elections.
There is still opposition to the judicial election. Protests are planned for election day.
Two prominent Mexicans calling for a boycott of the judicial election are former president (2000 to 2006) Vicente Fox and billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego.
