Mexico's 2025 judicial elections raise security fears
In 2025, thousands of candidates will vie for federal judge and magistrate positions in an election in Mexico, which last year endured the bloodiest political elections in its modern history.
The heightened public exposure of those competing for the prestigious posts has sparked fears that the candidates will be easy targets.
Magistrate Edmundo Roman Pinzon, a former president of the highest court in Guerrero state, was killed in a parking lot at his workplace by gunmen in December 2024.
"Undoubtedly all of us are at risk to suffer an attack," Ynocente Orduno, former president of Guerrero's judges' association, said in an interview at his office in the courthouse where Roman was killed.
Guerrero's attorney general and Mexico's security secretary have announced at least three arrests in the case, including a person suspected of links to organized crime, according to local media. Authorities have not disclosed a motive and the prosecutor declined to comment.
The June 1 elections are part of a reform passed last year that overhauls the country's judicial system. Around 5,000 candidates are vying for more than 840 federal positions in June, including Supreme Court justices. Another 1,737 candidates will compete for local positions in 17 states. Other states will hold their local elections in the coming years.
Ahead of the 2024 elections that Sheinbaum and her party won in a landslide, 37 candidates were assassinated, which human rights monitors largely link to organized crime. Mexico is up against a budget crunch and a depleted National Guard as it focuses on collaboration with the United States at its shared border.
At least 22 local judicial professionals, including Roman, have been killed in Mexico since 2012, according to think tank Mexico Evalua.
In the majority of cases, authorities did not publicize the motives for the killings, though Mexico Evalua found at least four to be associated with the judges' work.
