Low participation, as Mexico votes in the controversial judicial elections Election news

President Shinbum voted for “success” signs, but experts warn of criminals to use it to infiltrate the judiciary.

The historical vote for the selection of judges in Mexico was “success” by the president, despite a scattered turnout and widespread confusion.

Only 13 percent of qualified voters made their votes in Sunday vote To reform the court system. President Claudia Shinbom announced that the elections will make Mexico more democratic, but critics accused it of seeking to control the judiciary, while analysts warned that it might open the way for criminals to seize influence.

The vote, which is the cornerstone policy in Shinbom and the predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, aims to fill about 880 federal judicial positions, including the Supreme Court judges, as well as hundreds of local judges and judges.

But many voters said they have struggled to make enlightened options between a flood of largely unknown candidates, who were prevented from publicly partisan affiliations or to engage in large -scale campaigns.

Police stations “largely empty”

John Holman from Al -Jazeera from Mexico said that the polling stations were “largely empty.”

“On what the government planned to be a historic day, most Mexicans prefer to do something else,” he said.

However, Sheinbau praised the elections as a “complete success” that makes the country a democratic path.

The president said: “Mexico is a country that has only become more free, fair and democratic because this is the will of the people.”

The reform, which was defended by supporters, was necessary to disinfect the corrupt justice system, originally driven by the predecessor of Shinbom, Lopez Obrador, who was repeatedly clashed with the old judiciary.

“Dragon”

Experts It has warned The participation rate will be unusually low due to the huge number of candidates and the lack of knowledge of the judicial vote.

David Sherk, a professor at San Diego University, said in order to be aware correctly, the voters will have to spend hours and hours searching for a busy record and features of each of the hundreds of candidates.

This concern was echoed by voters in opinion polls.

“We are not very ready,” said Lucia Calderon, a 63 -year -old university teacher. “I think we need more information.”

Francisco Torres de Leon, a 62 -year -old retired teacher in southern Mexico, called “the painstaking process because there are many candidates and positions that will fill them.”

In addition to logistical challenges, analysts and rights groups raised concerns that strong criminal groups can use elections to increase infiltration to the judiciary.

While corruption already exists, “there is a reason for the belief that the elections may be more easily infiltrated through organized crime than other methods of judicial selection,” said Margaret Satartoit, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers.

Although all candidates were supposed to have legal experience, there is no criminal record and “good reputation”, many of them have been linked to organized crime scandals and corruption.

Group Defensorxs has identified about 20 candidates, as it is considered a “great danger”, including Silvia Delgado, a former lawyer for Sinaloa Cartel Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Another candidate, in Durango, has previously served nearly six years in an American prison for drug crimes.

The results of the elections are expected in the coming days. The second round of the 2027 judicial elections is scheduled to fill hundreds of other positions.