The Most Transparent Election

Unlike what many people believe, the recent process to select a significant number of federal and local judges was completely transparent. Contrary to some criticisms, there was no concealment of López Obrador’s intention to subject the national judiciary to the whims of his so-called fourth transformation. There was no hiding by President Claudia Sheinbaum or the political parties that nominated her regarding the conclusion of her predecessor’s intentions. At no point were the motivations of the deputies and senators who called for some forums of supposed discussion, or drafted the reports they or their successors would approve, hidden. There was never an attempt to mask the search for the necessary votes to amend the Constitution or the pressures on the mimicry of the electoral justice tribunal that inflated overrepresentation.

Nothing was done to cover— even in appearance— the formation of the selection committees of the federal Legislative and Executive powers. The composition of each of them and the connections of their members with public or partisan powers were not made invisible. On the contrary, the lines of loyalty to the corresponding individuals or officialist groups were openly and emphatically displayed.

There was never an effort to conceal the chain of errors and omissions in the selection processes. The lottery machines and their bouncing balls were visible to everyone in the Senate chamber. So were the assignments of the candidates through a list that no one had access to.

In the recent election, the actions of the National Electoral Institute to facilitate the election on June 1, 2025, were never hidden. We could see the transformation of the judicial circuits into districts generated by it. The confusing ballots, the agreement not to destroy those that had not been used, the prolific distribution of properly printed and timely marked cheat sheets, and the decisions to count the votes in some location were all in plain sight.

If we consider what happened between February 5, 2024, and at least June 2, 2025, we can only acknowledge, and perhaps even marvel at, the enormous transparency of everything done during those days regarding the judicial election. At no moment was anything of what was intended to be achieved concealed, nor what was done to reach it. It is a different matter if, out of naïveté, interests, or negligence, one did not want to understand what was happening in plain view.

The results of the election prove that everything we saw was indeed happening. There was nothing different in a kind of parallel world or behind a curtain. Just look at the winners of the contested judicial positions to realize the connection between that presidential desire and the recent electoral outcomes. In the middle are, of course, the many visible irregularities, as well as their apparent resolutions, the coincidences between the winners and party members or affiliates, the cheat sheets, the transporting of voters, and the victors in the contest.

The judicial election of June 1, 2025, is an example of transparency. The heads of various powers and public bodies showed us their intentions, actions, procedures, agreements, and celebrations. In this regard, there is nothing to reproach regarding that election. From the beginning, they told us they aimed for control over all the organs of justice in the country, and their actions evidenced just that.