Mexico has become the first country in the world to elect judges on every court by popular vote.
Citizens of the country trooped to the polls on Sunday to elect the nearly 2,600 candidates to replace the judges and magistrates in the country.
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This makes Mexico one of the few countries in the world to elect their judges instead of appointing them. While some judges are elected in places such as the US and Switzerland, Mexico becomes the first country to elect all its judges, up to the Supreme Court.
The election was held amid controversy and confusion among voters, many of whom struggled to understand a polling process which is set to transform the country’s court system.
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This is part of a reform pushed by former President Andres Obrador and his successor, President Claudia Sheinbaum.
The had both argued that the election will root out corruption in a flawed judiciary dominated by an out-of-touch elite.
President Sheinbaum had said it will allow people to decide who should be a judge.
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Her party, Morena, also claimed that electing judges would democratise the judiciary, eliminate corruption and nepotism, and improve access to justice.
“The public isn’t stupid. If we trust voters to choose a president, why not judges?,”Olivia Bonilla, a candidate for the Supreme Court, said.
However, critics warned that could undermine judicial independence and empower organised crime. Before the election, many predicted a low voter turnout.
On Sunday night, Mexico’s electoral commission announced that only 13 per cent of the country’s 100 million eligible voters turned out to vote.
According to an AP News report, this is a sharp decline from the 60 per cent turnout recorded during last year’s presidential election.
While observers warned that the low turnout will eventually raise questions about the credibility of the election, President Sheinbaum has insisted that the voting process was a complete success.
“Mexico is the most democratic country in the world.
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“Whoever says that there is authoritarianism in Mexico is lying. Mexico is a country that is only becoming more free, just and democratic because that is the will of the people,” she said.
Mexico now joins Bolivia as one of the only countries in the world to hold nationwide judicial elections.
While judicial elections are not unusual, they are not often carried out at the national level to replace federal judges.
In countries like the United States and Switzerland , such elections are common at the state level and also for the election of some local judges.
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