Will directly electing judges help Mexico fight corruption in its justice system?
Will directly electing judges help Mexico fight corruption in its justice system?
Mexico’s outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has used his party's overwhelming democratic mandate to pass a series of reforms that will make the country the first in the world to elect almost all of its judges by popular vote. It’s a reform that the left-wing leader has championed as a crucial step to curtail the widespread corruption in Mexico’s judiciary – but some are worried it may leave the newly elected judges open to pressure from the country's powerful drug cartels, or even usher in a return to de facto one-party rule.
Mexico’s outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has used his party's overwhelming democratic mandate to pass a series of reforms that will make the country the first in the world to elect almost all of its judges by popular vote. It’s a reform that the left-wing leader has championed as a crucial step to curtail the widespread corruption in Mexico’s judiciary – but some are worried it may leave the newly elected judges open to pressure from the country's powerful drug cartels, or even usher in a return to de facto one-party rule.