Mexico's Democracy Stumbles On (Just About)
Judicial elections don't solve a dysfunctional justice system but it's overblown to say Mexican democracy is kaput
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When Andrés Manuel López Obrador left the Mexican presidency on September 30 and handed it to his successor Claudia Sheinbaum, there was concern he would still govern as a form of “Maximato,” or power behind the throne. Critics said Sheinbaum would be a “títere,” or puppet, and the popular López Obrador, or AMLO, who founded their Morena party, would stay in public and set the agenda.
Didn’t happen. Sheinbaum has risen to even higher approval levels than her mentor and AMLO kept quiet and literally went to the “Chingada,” the name of his ranch in Chiapas (look up the play on words on that). He finally appeared again yesterday, June 1, to vote in the country’s first judicial elections, which selected more than 2,600 officials from local magistrates to district judges to supreme court justices. Another couple of thousand judicial posts will be elected in 2027 giving Mexico a new record as the country with the most judges up for vote.
“It makes me happy to live in a free and democratic country,” AMLO said after casting his ballot in the town of Palenque.
While Sheinbaum has governed over this judicial election, it was AMLO’s baby. The reform was approved in heated parliamentary sessions in September in AMLO’s last days in office. It was seen as a revenge on the Supreme Court for blocking other AMLO reforms, including an attempt to change the electoral agency. Even if Sheinbaum had misgivings about the justice reform, it would have been politically impossible for her to overturn it.
Either way, she embraced the franchise. “The power in Mexico is in the people,” she said in a video message last night after a low turnout of about 13 percent. “Yes, Mexico is the most democratic country in the world.”
While the new judges will rule on thousands of court cases, it is this question of democracy that is at the heart of debate. Sheinbaum argues the popular vote will give people the power to remove judges who are corrupt, especially those…
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