Judicial Lottery

Mexico’s Senate will use a draw to select candidates to run in June’s elections for judicial positions across the country, increasing tensions in the country over last year’s divisive effort to overhaul the country’s judiciary, Reuters reported.

In September, lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment reforming the judiciary that would require voters to elect all judges, including Supreme Court justices, by popular vote this summer and again in 2027.

The overhaul is supported by the ruling Morena party and President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has hailed the change as necessary to combat corruption, nepotism, and inefficiency, Agence France-Presse wrote.

A five-member Judicial Evaluation Committee was initially charged with vetting the candidates that would run in the election.

But the Judicial Branch of the Federation (TEPJF) undermined the committee by announcing the candidates would be selected via a draw by the upper house of the legislature, the Senate.

As a result, all the members of the Judicial Evaluation Committee resigned, saying it was “legally impossible” to continue with their brief.

Senate President Gerardo Fernandez said the drawing will be held Friday to randomly select candidates that will appear in the June elections. The list of candidates will then go to the Supreme Court.

More than 18,000 people registered as candidates for the 881 judgeships in November, the Associated Press noted.

The opposition party Citizen Movement criticized the TEPJF’s ruling to hold a lottery for the candidates for deepening Mexico’s constitutional crisis, adding that it “expands the chain of illegalities surrounding the implementation of the reform that subjects judges to popular election.”