Mexico holds unprecedented Sunday elections, allowing voters to choose their judges at all levels, in a country where drugs and other interests regularly seek to change justice.
The government says that the reform that turns Mexico into the only country in the world to choose all its judges and magistrates through the people’s vote is necessary to deal with deeply rooted corruption and impunity.
But there are fears that the judiciary will be politicized and that it will be easier for criminals to influence the courts with threats and bribery.
Although corruption is already a matter, “there is a reason to believe that the elections can be more easily infiltrated by organized crime than other methods of court selection,” said Margaret Sattertwate, the UN Special Rapporteur for Judges and Lawyers.
The court elections also “take the risk of the electorate not to choose candidates based on their merit,” the independent expert told AFP.
Pressing the vote is not accompanied by the type of violence, which is often aimed at politicians in Mexico.
But the cartels are probably trying to influence the result in the shadows, said Luis Carlos Ugalde, a consultant and a former leader of the Election Commission in Mexico.
“It is logical that organized criminal groups would turn to judges and candidates who are important to them,” Ugalde, CEO of Consultores Integralia, said, told a round table hosting the inter -American dialogue.
Carlota Ramos, a lawyer in President Claudia Shainbaum’s office, said that although the risk of organized crime would penetrate state institutions, he was already present “invisible”.
The new system allowed the great control of ambitious judges, Ramos argued.
– Controversial contenders –
Defits Group Defensorxs identifies about 20 candidates that he considers a “high risk”, including Sylvia Delgado, a former lawyer of Cartel co -founder Sinaloa Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
“Everyone has the right to advise,” said Delgado, who stands as a judge in the northern state of Chihuahua, “AFP told.
Fernando Eskamila, who seeks to be a judge in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, was Miguel Angel Trevino’s lawyer, a former Los Zetas cartel leader known for his brutality.
Another ambitious judge in Durango spent almost six years in prison in the United States for drug crimes.
“I have never been sold to you as a perfect candidate,” Leopold Chavez said in a video.
– “Good reputation” –
On Sunday, voters will choose about 880 federal judges – including judges of the Supreme Court – as well as hundreds of local judges and magistrates. Other elections for the rest will be held in 2027.
Applicants are assumed to have a degree in law, experience in legal issues and what is called “good reputation”, and there is no criminal record.
Shainbaum has played indications that many voters can stay away, partly because of the complexity of the exercise.
“We don’t even know where the electoral sections will be,” says 63 -year -old Teresa Vargas, who, although a lawyer, admitted that she was not sure how to vote or who to choose.
In order to do a good job, the voters “will have to spend hours and hours, exploring the records and profiles of each of the hundreds of candidates,” says David Shirk, a professor at the University of San Diego.
He believes that the greater part of corruption in Mexico’s judicial system is in law enforcement agencies and the prosecutor’s office.
“It is much easier to bribe a prosecutor and avoid the accusations as a whole than to wind up in court and then have to influence the judge,” said Shirk, who runs the research project “Justice in Mexico”.
The judicial reforms were supported by Shainbaum’s predecessor and mentor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who often encountered the courts and accused them of serving the political and economic elite.
The main reason for the election seems to be “because Lopez Obrador had an insult to the judges,” Shirk said.
Bur-DR/NL/TC