{"id":2493,"date":"2025-06-18T00:28:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T00:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mexiconewsreport.com\/?p=2493"},"modified":"2025-07-15T04:16:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T04:16:05","slug":"judicial-election-results-released-looks-like-a-win-for-morena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mexiconewsreport.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/18\/judicial-election-results-released-looks-like-a-win-for-morena\/","title":{"rendered":"Judicial Election Results Released – Looks Like a Win for MORENA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On June 1st, Mexico held nationwide judicial elections<\/a>. On June 15th, the official returns were released by the Instituto Nacional Electoral<\/em>.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: Instituto Nacional Electoral<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It looks like the newly-elected judges are going to extend the power of the MORENA party, which already has the Presidency and the Congress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New York Times has an article entitled In Mexico, Thousands Ran for Office, Few Voted and One Party Dominated It All<\/a>, by Emiliano Rodriguez Mega and Simon Romero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what Rodriguez and Romero say: “Justices aligned with Mexico\u2019s leftist governing party now dominate the Supreme Court. <\/strong>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See How Independent Will Mexico\u2019s Newly-Elected Supreme Court Be ?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the New York Times article: “Party loyalists control a new tribunal with the power to fire judges and the court that decides federal election disputes.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Leaders of the Morena party, which already holds the presidency and Congress, had insisted that their contentious judicial overhaul…would not be a power grab. On the contrary, they said, it would make judges accountable to voters and begin to fix a system that most Mexicans say is marred by corruption, nepotism and widespread impunity for criminals.<\/strong>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But Mexico\u2019s shift away from an appointment-based system to having voters elect judges has, at least for now, amounted to a crucial step in Morena\u2019s consolidation of power, according to final election results made available on Sunday [June 15th].”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Candidates with Morena\u2019s stamp of approval sailed to victories in Mexico\u2019s most powerful courts and in court circuits across the country, showcasing critics\u2019 fears that the election could eliminate the last major check on Morena\u2019s power.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article quotes a current judge who is a critic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c ‘You now have an administration that controls the presidency, that controls the Congress with supermajorities in both chambers and that now controls the judges,’ said Mar\u00eda Emilia Molina, a circuit magistrate and president of the Mexican Association of Women Judges…Judge Molina, 53, said she planned to resign sometime this year.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, says the article, “Many questions remain about how the system will change in practice, especially since the overhaul did not address elements that many Mexicans criticize as corrupt or unresponsive, like prosecutors and the police.<\/strong>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody would deny that Mexico has serious problems in its legal system. But is this new system the answer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there is the court called the Tribunal de Disciplina Judicial<\/em>, the Tribunal for Judicial Discipline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Another untested factor is the new Tribunal for Judicial Discipline, which has broad powers to investigate and even impeach some judges \u2014 powers that critics say could be used to remove uncooperative judges.” <\/strong> 

It’s the classic question Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?<\/strong> <\/em> Who will guard the guards themselves? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reform was rammed through Congress by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador before he left office on October 1st, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As president last year, Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador marshaled support for electing judges after courts tried to block some of his major projects and plans.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Timing and Morena\u2019s current unrivaled popularity were also pivotal factors. Cementing the party\u2019s dominance, Claudia Sheinbaum won last year\u2019s presidential election in a landslide as party allies unexpectedly won the majorities needed in Congress to change Mexico\u2019s Constitution.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The turnout on June 1st was very low. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But while polling showed support for the overhaul, nearly 90 percent of voters abstained from casting ballots this month… The dismal turnout, only 13 percent of 100 million voters, fueled concerns over the election\u2019s legitimacy, especially as it became clear that many voters also invalidated their ballots or left them blank.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Factors that contributed to the low turnout included dizzying number of options on the ballots, a limited budget to organize the election, and relatively little understanding of what judges do, said Ernesto Guerra, a political analyst. ‘Evidently, people were not interested in this process,’ Mr. Guerra said.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there’s this…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The voting also provided a glimpse into potential fissures emerging within Morena. In numerous states, voters veered from Morena\u2019s guidance to select candidates who were less inclined to align explicitly with the governing party \u2014 even if these candidates were also not aligned with the opposition. ‘Those fractures could widen as time goes by,’ \u00darsula Indacochea, a judicial expert at the Washington-based Due Process of Law Foundation, said.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c ‘That\u2019s the proof that the judicial election was a bad idea, even for those who proposed it,’ she said. ‘By politicizing justice, judges act like politicians \u2014 and politicians switch sides.’ “<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Claudia Sheinbaum is still gung-ho for the reform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“President Sheinbaum recently seemed to acknowledge some criticism, especially regarding turnout. ‘We need to see what can be refined to make it easier for Mexican men and women to vote,’ she said. But, she added, ‘I\u2019m convinced that this election will clean up the judiciary.’ “<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the opposition?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The opposition, which seems to be on life support in much of the country, will not have a chance to challenge Morena\u2019s dominance in the courts until 2027, when voting will take place in the judicial elections\u2019 second phase.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c ‘There won\u2019t be any institutional check on Morena\u2019s power for at least the next two years,’ Juan Jos\u00e9 Garza Onofre, a constitutional law researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“By then, Mexicans will also have had a chance to reshape other parts of the government, too, casting ballots for 17 new governors, 500 seats in the lower house of Congress, hundreds of mayors and over 1,000 local legislators.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here<\/a> for results of the June 1st election on the INE (Instituto Nacional Electoral) website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mexico is moving into uncharted territory, so we have to watch to see how things develop. But it certainly looks like an expansion of the power of the MORENA party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On June 1st, Mexico held nationwide judicial elections. On June 15th, the official returns were released by the Instituto Nacional Electoral. It looks like the newly-elected judges are going to extend the power of the MORENA party, which already has … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,10],"tags":[27,222,529,17,548],"class_list":["post-2493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-system","category-politics","tag-claudia-sheinbaum","tag-ine-instituto-nacional-electoral","tag-judicial-elections","tag-supreme-court","tag-tribunal-de-disciplina-judicial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mexiconewsreport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mexiconewsreport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mexiconewsreport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mexiconewsreport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mexiconewsreport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2493"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mexiconewsreport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2706,"href":"https:\/\/mexiconewsreport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2493\/revisions\/2706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mexiconewsreport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mexiconewsreport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mexiconewsreport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}