The National Action Party (PAN) has denounced that the Government has allowed the influence of organized crime and allies of the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) in the first popular election of the Judiciary that will take place on June 1. Jorge Romero, president of the PAN, has expressed his concern, indicating that this first process to elect judges, magistrates, and ministers of the Supreme Court has been subject to what he considers a possible electoral fraud by approving the definitive list of candidacies last Thursday. This list includes individuals linked to Morena and with alleged connections to drug trafficking.
In a statement, Jorge Romero declared: "The reform to the Judiciary proposed by the Morena-Government will not solve the justice problems in Mexico; on the contrary, it will weaken it and could allow individuals connected to organized crime to be under protection." These accusations arise after the validation by the National Electoral Institute (INE) of the official list of 64 candidates for the Supreme Court and 15 for the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary (TEPJF) for the upcoming elections, the first after the reform promoted by former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The PAN has alerted to the presence of profiles close to López Obrador and current administration members of Claudia Sheinbaum among the candidacies, such as Arturo Zaldívar, former president of the Supreme Court and current general coordinator of Politics and Government of the Presidency of the Republic. Additionally, the candidacies of María Estela Ríos González, Selene Cruz Alcalá, Fabiana Estrada Tena, and Luis Rafael Hernández have been mentioned, all with links to significant figures in the current government.
Jorge Romero concluded his statement by asserting that this process opens the door to corruption and manipulation, implying that judges may already be decided by the Government, which would undermine judicial autonomy and impartiality in decisions. The INE has already begun printing the 602 million ballots for these elections, a number that nearly doubles the amount used in the 2024 presidential elections.
