This Sunday thousands of Mexicans have gone to the polls to participate in the first popular election of judges and magistrates of the Judiciary in a day marked both by the enthusiasm of the democratic exercise and by the confusion for the complexity of the process and some protests that accuse it of trying to politicize justice.
Since the opening of the almost 84,000 boxes installed throughout the country, citizens came to cast their vote to renew the Supreme Court of Justice and different magistrates and courts at the federal and local level, with a total of 2,681 positions in dispute, of which 881 are of a federal nature.
In a special box located in the Mayor’s Office Benito Juárez, in the Mexican capital, – one of the 245 installed nationwide for those who are outside its electoral section – the environment was of citizen responsibility and hope of change in justice.
María Paz González, from the State of Michoacán, celebrated the renewal of the Judiciary to end corruption, and stressed that just as citizens go enthusiastically to receive government support, they also have the duty to go to vote.
“If they already give us our support and we want to receive it, why not come to this (to vote)?” He told Efe González, who traveled to Mexico City to operate, and while recovering, he did not let his duty to vote.
His daughter, Xóchitl Sofía Pérez, added that although he noticed less influx compared to the 2024 presidential election when the available shifts are quickly finished, he was surprised by the amount of voters rowing.
“We have rights and obligations too, then we have to exercise our obligations because nothing else is asking,” he said.
For her part, the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, who voted early in the morning in the center of the capital, celebrated the day with a cry of “Long live democracy” after depositing her ballots.
In contrast, in the center of Mexico City a contingent of citizens convened by the opposition marched from the Angel of Independence to the monument to the revolution to express their disagreement with these unpublished elections that consider a “farce”.
While holding a poster with the legend “I do not vote. Yes Marcho and I defend our free and sovereign Mexico,” Julieta Elizondo, 80, told Efe that he has always voted, but this time he preferred to go out to protest with the aim of not legitimizing this choice.
“I am very pleased to participate in this march. It’s the only thing I can do against all this madness, absurd and fraud,” said Elizondo, among the slogans of the hundreds of protesters who paralyzed for a few hours the main avenues of the center of the capital.
Also, Adrián García, 67, added that although “he probably does not achieve much” with the demonstration, at least “there must be an antecedent” so that the government sees that it does not have “everything in its favor.”
In addition to enthusiasm, many citizens who went to the polls also faced confusion.
Juan Rodríguez, 64, cast his vote despite suffering visual weakness, and said he chose the candidates who were agreed to have appeared in the media.
“They are the ones that had been listening on television,” he said.
Also Remedios Torres, 30, said he came to vote “for responsibility”, despite considering that it was a “waste of time” and criticize the complex vote since there were “too many names” on the ballots.
Almost 100 million Mexicans are called to vote in the unprecedented judicial election, although the most recent surveys point to a low participation, between 10 % and 20 % of the electorate.
The process has been questioned by academic sectors, international organizations and judicial associations due to the complexity and lack of information among voters, as well as the risk of infiltration of organized crime in the Judiciary.
With EFE information.
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