Less than 24 hours after the first judicial election in the history of Mexico, the country remains waiting for the preliminary results that will define the integration of the renewed judicial body promoted by the current government and the criticism for the low participation.
While the counting progress, President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday that the day was a “success”, even when citizen participation barely reached 13%, far from 20% expected by the president.
“Of course the election is a success. People went out to vote freely. And he decided who to vote,” he said during his morning press conference.
Sheinbaum celebrated that 13 million people, of the almost 100 million who were called to vote, went to the polls on Sunday, in an act that described as “unpublished, impressive, wonderful and democratic,” and refuted the opposition.
“They bet that no one was going to vote. Well, they voted more than those who vote for them,” he presumed.
Preliminary figures from the National Electoral Institute (INE) estimate that participation did not exceed 13%, a considerably lower level than observed in the presidential elections of 2024, where Sheinbaum obtained broad support and in which he voted 59.6% of the electorate.
Lee: Sheinbaum defends the judicial election despite a few participation of 13%
Rosa Icela Rodríguez, Secretary of the Interior, said that the election was carried out in an environment of peace and tranquility and pointed out that it is a “firm step” to the construction of a more “transparent and closer justice for the people of Mexico.”
“For the first time the people exercised their right to directly choose their judges, magistrates, ministers and ministers. Never, in the history of our country, citizens had expressed their will on the Judiciary,” he said.
Staggered results
The unprecedented election of the Judiciary now faces the challenge of counting the votes, an exercise that will take at least 10 days and the complete results are expected to be official on June 15.
Rodríguez explained that this week it is expected to have the first results, which will be announced in a staggered way: today those of ministers and ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN); On Wednesday, June 4, the Court of Judicial Discipline, and on Thursday 5 the Magistrates of the Superior Chamber of the Electoral Court of the Judicial Power of the Federation.
Meanwhile, on Friday, June 6, the Magistrates of Regional Salas of the same Court will be known; On Sunday 8 those of circuit magistrates and, finally, on Tuesday, June 10, the district judges.
Until 14:20 on Monday, the INE had computed 65.8% of the minutes for the election of the new Supreme Court.
Lee: international observers highlight ‘Pacific Process’ during the judicial election
With this election, among other things, the Supreme Court will reduce its number of members from 11 to 9, and the ministers management period will be reduced from 15 to 12 years.
Opposition criticism
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.
¨ “His judicial election was a failure and they know it. Obviously, in an election without counts, without scrutiny and without transparency, of course they are making their ‘cochinero’,” said the president of the PRI, Alejandro Moreno.
Meanwhile, the employer Confederation of the Mexican Republic (Coparmex), said that this election “cannot become the new model for future electoral processes.”
He also warned that these types of exercises should not “sit precedents” to justify budget cuts, reduce the number of voting centers that only weakened electoral logistics, demand from the electoral authorities the organization of an election with little time, among other problems.
With EFE information
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