Mexico's ruling Morena party set to gain control of SC, show vote tallies

Mexico's ruling Morena party appeared to be heading towards control over the Supreme Court, preliminary vote tallies of the country's first judicial election indicated.

While votes were still being counted for the majority of the 2,600 federal, state and local judge positions up for grabs in Sunday's judicial elections, results rolled in for the nine Supreme Court positions.

The majority of the newly elected justices share strong ties and ideological alignments with the ruling party, shifting a once fairly balanced high court into the hands of the very party that overhauled the judicial system to elect judges for the first time.

Experts warned the shift would undercut checks and balances in the Latin American nation: The governing party would now be close to controlling all three branches of government, and President Claudia Sheinbaum and her party also would have a easier path to push through their agenda. 

"We're watching as power is falling almost entirely into the hands of one party," said Georgina De la Fuente, election specialist with the Mexican consulting firm Strategia Electoral. "There isn't any balance of power."  A Morena-leaning court and an Indigenous justice  Some of those headed towards election were members or former members of the party. A number of them, who were Supreme Court justices prior to the election, were appointed by former President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador, Sheinbaum's mentor who pushed through the judicial overhaul last year.

Others were advisers to the president or the party or campaigned with politically aligned visions for the judiciary.

Not all of the prospective winners were explicitly aligned with Morena. One standout was Hugo Aguilar Ortiz, an Indigenous lawyer from the southern state of Oaxaca. He has no clear party affiliation, though Sheinbaum said repeatedly she hoped to have an Indigenous judge on the court.

A political controversy  That Morena would emerge from the election with control of the judiciary was what critics had feared.

The vote came after months of fierce debate, prompted when Lpez Obrador and the party jammed through the reforms for judges to be elected instead of being appointed based on merits. The overhaul will notably limit the Supreme Court as a counterweight to the president. 

Critics say the judicial reform was an attempt to take advantage of high popularity levels to stack courts in favour of the party. Sheinbaum and her mentor have insisted that electing judges will root out corruption in a system most Mexicans agree is broken.

"Whoever says that there is authoritarianism in Mexico is lying," Sheinbaum said during the vote. "Mexico is a country that is only becoming more free, just and democratic because that is the will of the people."  The elections were marred by low participation about 13 per cent and confusion by voters who struggled to understand the new voting system, something opponents quickly latched onto as a failure.

De la Fuente said Morena is likely to use its new lack of counterweight in the high court to push through rounds of reforms, including electoral changes.

Late Monday, more than 85 per cent of the ballots had been tallied and counting was to continue overnight.