Turnout at Mexico's first-ever judicial elections on Sunday was only around 13% of eligible voters, but President Sheinbaum nevertheless celebrated the democratic exercise.

Mexico is scheduled to hold its first-ever judicial elections on Sunday, with hundreds of judges, magistrates and justices on the ballot across the country.

Mexico is a relatively young democracy that emerged from single-party rule less than three decades ago. Under Mr. López Obrador’s presidency, analysts warned that it was moving back in the direction of competitive authoritarianism, in which the ruling party uses the power of the state to tilt the playing field in its favor.

Critics fear the overhaul risks judicial independence, but President Claudia Sheinbaum says the election will root out corruption in a flawed judiciary.

Mexican voters head to the polls on Sunday to begin picking judges in an unprecedented election that could give President Claudia Sheinbaum broad influence over a revamped judiciary, the only branch of government her party doesn’t control.