Mexico's ruling party headed toward control of newly elected Supreme Court, vote tallies show

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico’s ruling Morena enactment appeared to beryllium heading toward power implicit the Supreme Court, preliminary ballot tallies of the country's archetypal judicial election indicated.

While votes were inactive being counted for the bulk of the 2,600 federal, authorities and section justice positions up for grabs successful Sunday’s judicial elections, results rolled successful for the 9 Supreme Court positions.

The bulk of the recently elected justices stock beardown ties and ideological alignments with the ruling party, shifting a erstwhile reasonably balanced precocious tribunal into the hands of the precise enactment that overhauled the judicial strategy to elite judges for the archetypal time.

Experts warned the displacement would undercut checks and balances successful the Latin American nation: The governing enactment would present beryllium adjacent to controlling each 3 branches of government, and President Claudia Sheinbaum and her enactment besides would person a easier way to propulsion done their agenda.

“We’re watching arsenic powerfulness is falling astir wholly into the hands of 1 party,” said Georgina De la Fuente, predetermination specializer with the Mexican consulting steadfast Strategia Electoral. “There isn’t immoderate equilibrium of power.”

Some of those headed toward predetermination were members oregon erstwhile members of the party. A fig of them, who were Supreme Court justices anterior to the election, were appointed by erstwhile President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Sheinbaum’s mentor who pushed done the judicial overhaul past year.

Others were advisers to the president oregon the enactment oregon campaigned with politically aligned visions for the judiciary.

Not each of the prospective winners were explicitly aligned with Morena. One standout was Hugo Aguilar Ortiz, an Indigenous lawyer from the confederate authorities of Oaxaca. He has nary wide enactment affiliation, though Sheinbaum said repeatedly she hoped to person an Indigenous justice connected the court.

That Morena would look from the predetermination with power of the judiciary was what critics had feared.

The ballot came aft months of fierce debate, prompted erstwhile López Obrador and the enactment jammed done the reforms for judges to beryllium elected alternatively of being appointed based connected merits. The overhaul volition notably bounds the Supreme Court arsenic a counterweight to the president.

Critics accidental the judicial betterment was an effort to instrumentality vantage of precocious popularity levels to stack courts successful favour of the party. Sheinbaum and her mentor person insisted that electing judges volition basal retired corruption successful a strategy astir Mexicans hold is broken.

“Whoever says that determination is authoritarianism successful Mexico is lying,” Sheinbaum said during the vote. “Mexico is simply a state that is lone becoming much free, conscionable and antiauthoritarian due to the fact that that is the volition of the people.”

The elections were marred by low information — astir 13% — and confusion by voters who struggled to recognize the caller voting system, thing opponents rapidly latched onto arsenic a failure.

De la Fuente said Morena is apt to usage its caller deficiency of counterweight successful the precocious tribunal to propulsion done rounds of reforms, including electoral changes.

Late Monday, much than 85% of the ballots had been tallied and counting was to proceed overnight.

— Hugo Aguilar Ortiz was the large astonishment from the election. The Indigenous lawyer led each vote-getters, including respective sitting Supreme Court justices. He’s known arsenic a ineligible activistic warring for the rights of Indigenous Mexicans and has criticized corruption successful the judiciary.

— Lenia Batres was already a Supreme Court justness and was appointed by López Obrador. Previously a congresswoman, she’s a subordinate of Morena and intelligibly an state of Mexico’s president.

— Yasmín Esquivel is simply a Supreme Court justness who was appointed by López Obrador. She focused her run connected modernizing the justness strategy and has pushed for sex equality. She was astatine the halfway of a 2022 contention erstwhile she was accused of plagiarizing her thesis. She is considered an state of the Morena party.

— Loretta Ortiz is simply a justness connected the Supreme Court who was appointed by López Obrador. She besides served successful Congress and resigned from Morena successful 2018 successful a amusement of independency arsenic a judge. Despite that, she’s considered an state of the party.

— María Estela Ríos González is simply a lawyer who acted arsenic ineligible advisor to López Obrador, archetypal erstwhile helium was politician of Mexico City and aboriginal erstwhile helium became president. She has a agelong past arsenic a nationalist servant and enactment successful labour instrumentality and connected a fig of Indigenous issues.

— Giovanni Figueroa Mejía is simply a lawyer from the Pacific seashore authorities of Nayarit with a doctorate successful law law. He presently works arsenic an world astatine the Iberoamericana University successful Mexico City. He’s worked successful quality rights. While helium holds nary wide enactment affiliation, helium supported the judicial overhaul pushed guardant by Morena, saying successful an interrogation with his assemblage that the overhaul “was urgent and indispensable successful bid to rebuild” the judiciary. He said immoderate of his enactment successful law instrumentality was cited successful justifying the reform.

— Irving Espinosa Betanzo is simply a magistrate connected Mexico City’s Supreme Court and has antecedently worked arsenic a legislature advisor to Morena. He campaigned for the country's highest tribunal connected a level of eliminating nepotism and corruption and pushing for quality rights.

— Arístides Rodrigo Guerrero García is simply a instrumentality prof pushing for societal payment with nary acquisition arsenic a judge, but who has worked arsenic a nationalist servant and has acquisition successful some law and parliamentary law. He gained traction successful campaigns for a societal media video of him claiming he’s “more prepared than a pork rind.”

— Sara Irene Herrerías Guerra is simply a authoritative specializing successful quality rights for Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office. She’s worked connected issues similar sex equality, sexually transmitted infections and quality trafficking. In 2023, she worked connected the probe of a occurrence successful an migration facility successful the borderline metropolis of Ciudad Juárez that killed 40 migrants.