Mexico Votes in First Judicial Election Amid Concerns Over Rule of Law
Mexicans vote on Sunday in the country's first ever judicial elections, part of an overhaul of the nation's judiciary that critics warn could jeopardize the rule of law.
The vote will elect 2,600 judges and magistrates, including all Supreme Court justices, and is part of a reform pushed by former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his protege and successor President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Lopez Obrador and Sheinbaum say the election will root out corruption in a flawed judiciary dominated by an out-of-touch elite and instead allow people to decide who should be a judge.
But the run-up to the vote has been dominated by a scandal over some of the candidates, including a convicted drug smuggler and a former lawyer of drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.