World

Mexico’s Judicial Election Is Today, but Voters Face Long and Complex Ballots

Published

9 months ago

June 1, 2025

Mexico’s Judicial Election Is Today, but Voters Face Long and Complex Ballots

The plan is simple. Mexicans will vote on Sunday to elect judges across the country, in a vast overhaul that reaches from the Supreme Court to every level of the justice system.

The execution, however, can boggle the mind.

Voters are expected to choose nearly 2,700 judicial positions out of 7,800 candidates across federal and state elections, a huge undertaking whose complexity can be seen in the dizzying variety of color codings, candidate groupings and types of ballots that will be handed out.

In one state, 155 candidates are on a single page, reflecting the ambitions of Mexico’s governing Morena party to democratize the system. In another state, there is essentially no choice at all — what critics call a sign of the overhaul’s deep flaws.

The national election agency features a ballot simulator on its website, where citizens can practice voting and click on each candidate’s name to learn about that person.

But if a voter took five minutes to study each candidate, that would amount to over five hours for this ballot alone.

Voters will also elect 464 circuit court and 386 district court positions across Mexico. But these ballots vary by circuit and district.

Not everyone in the country will see the same specialties or vote for the same number of judges.

In some densely populated areas, there are so many positions that the national election authorities used a lottery to split up which candidates appear on which ballots.

“We are only going to elect a small number of judges who are going to hear our cases,” said Javier Martín Reyes, a law professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

State ballots vary widely

All Mexican voters can cast ballots for federal candidates, but in 19 states, voters will have to choose local judges, as well, in some cases doubling the number of ballots that voters will have to sift through. (The remaining judicial positions will be elected in 2027.)

In Chihuahua state, voters will have to elect 305 local judges from nearly 900 candidates, the most officials on the ballot in any state. Voters in this district of Chihuahua, Morelos, have to go through 13 ballots — six federal and seven local — to get to all the candidates.

On this ballot for a low-level court, voters must choose five women and five men from 155 names.

At the other end of the spectrum is Durango state, where there are 49 positions up for grabs in the local court system on Sunday and 49 candidates.

All three branches of state government agreed on the same candidates — drawing criticism from local residents and legal experts who say this will be a simulation of an election, not a real one.

Those critics argue that the overhaul of the courts could give the governing party more power and open the door to underqualified or easily influenced candidates.

Supporters of the overhaul, including Mexico’s president, have downplayed those risks, saying that the vote will help root out corruption and nepotism by giving citizens the chance to pick their own judges, in contrast to the previous appointment-based system.

But in Durango, at least, each candidate needs only one vote to win. The number of votes still matters, though, because it will determine term limits and who will be the presiding judge in some courts, according to state officials.

On this page of the Durango ballot, eight women are vying for eight positions, and seven men are up for seven positions.

For this juvenile court in Durango, the ballot has one candidate for one position.

In the states of Coahuila and Quintana Roo, the ballot looks completely different.

Instead of choosing individual candidates, voters in those states will choose one of three columns, each representing the group of candidates put forth by the state’s executive, legislative and judicial branches.

The format is far simpler than the sprawling ballots that voters will receive in other states, but critics have argued that it gives voters fewer options and puts more power in the hands of those branches of government.

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World

Tel Aviv analyst shelters from 30 missile sirens in 48 hours, says Iran ‘won’t recover’

Published

22 minutes ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Tel Aviv analyst shelters from 30 missile sirens in 48 hours, says Iran ‘won’t recover’

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The past 48 hours in Tel Aviv have been unlike anything seen before, a leading security analyst has said, as sirens blared amid missile threats following Operation Epic Fury and U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran.

“We are facing a biblical event — nothing less,” Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute, told Fox News Digital, speaking from his shelter in the city.

Like many Israelis, Michael said he had spent hours in reinforced rooms during the ongoing barrage, adding that he was “very experienced in this.”

“But this all requires time and determination, and I do hope that Trump will also have them both,” he said, speaking shortly after the president released a video message stating that the military operation would continue “until all of our objectives are achieved.”

Explosions from projectile interceptions by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system over Tel Aviv. (JACK GUEZ / AFP via Getty Images)

“Trump is the only one who can make the change — and that change will impact the entire region and the international order for years to come,” Michael added.

As of Sunday, Tel Aviv remained under a state of emergency following Iranian missile attacks that caused casualties and widespread damage.

According to The Associated Press, Iranian missile and drone strikes have killed approximately 11 Israeli civilians and wounded dozens more in retaliation for the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran.

Shrapnel from missile impacts damaged at least 40 buildings in Tel Aviv, and authorities reported at least one death in the area from falling debris.

The Philippine Embassy in Israel confirmed the death of a Filipino national after a missile strike hit Tel Aviv on Saturday.

TOMAHAWKS, B-2 STEALTH BOMBERS AND ATTACK DRONES POUND OVER 1,000 IRANIAN TARGETS IN 24-HOUR BLITZ

People take shelter as Iran launched missiles and drones towards Israel following the US-Israeli attacks. ( Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“We enter our shelter once the siren is heard and stay there until the Home Front Command announces that we can leave,” Michael said.

“Usually, it is about 20 to 30 minutes — unless there are further sirens during our stay. Since yesterday morning, it has happened around 30 times.”

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog also visited an impact site in Tel Aviv Sunday, delivering a message of resilience.

“The people of Israel and the people of Iran can live in peace. The region can live in peace. But what undermines peace time and again is terror instigated by this Iranian regime,” Herzog said.

EXILED IRANIAN CROWN PRINCE SAYS US STRIKES MARK ‘BEGINNING OF THE VERY END’ FOR REGIME

Israeli emergency service officer walks past building debris at the scene of a Iranian missile attack. (Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP via Getty Images)

Following the reported killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and roughly 40 senior Iranian officials, Iran formed a provisional leadership council.

Iran named Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, President Masoud Pezeshkian and Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i to lead roles.

“The Supreme Leader did not complete the necessary groundwork regarding his own succession,” Michael added.

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“Pezeshkian will face very troubling challenges due to their heavy losses, severe disruptions to control and command systems, and the massive bombing and attacks across Iran, including Tehran,” he said.

“Even if this regime doesn’t collapse, it will never be able to reconstitute itself, recover or return to its previous position,” Michael added.

Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture.

World

Israel FM says Europe too divided, slams Spanish PM

Published

2 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Israel FM says Europe too divided, slams Spanish PM

Israeli minister Gideon Sa’ar said Europe “does not have unified position” on what role it should play in Iran as European ministers sought to establish a joint approach Sunday.

As Israel and the United States conducted a joint military strike on Iran, leading to the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Europe was kept on the sidelines.

EU member states did not participate in the operation and, in some cases, they were not informed prior as it is customary among strategic allies.

Asked whether Israel sought to keep Europe on the margins, Sa’ar said internal divisions within EU member states had kept them out of critical exchanges of operational details, unlike the United States, which the minister described as his country’s greatest ally.

“In Europe, you have all kinds of approaches,” he told Euronews. “You have countries like the Czech Republic which is strongly supporting this operation and then you have Spain, which is standing with all the tyrants of the world.”

On Saturday, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez was among the most critical voices in Europe, suggesting the US-Israeli strikes on Iran risk plunging the region into total war.

“We reject the unilateral military action of the United States and Israel, which represents an escalation and contributes to a more uncertain and hostile international order,” Sánchez said Saturday. The Spanish PM reiterated that message on Sunday.

“We urge for de-escalation and call to respect international law in all conflicts,” Sánchez added. “You can be against a heinous regime, like the Iranian regime, while also rejecting a military intervention that is unjustified, dangerous and outside of international law.”

Sa’aar said Israel considers the operation “fully justified” citing the right to self-defense from a regime that “has called for the destruction of Israel” and lashed at the Spanish prime minister for sending an “anti-Israeli, anti-American message.”

“Read the statement, they are standing with Iran!” he added.

When asked if any of his European counterparts had manifested an interest in joining the military operation or provide support on the ground, Sa’ar said he held multiple exchanges with European ministers over the weekend and suggested that “if others want to join, they will know have to convey the message.”

On Sunday, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen appeared to back regime change in Iran in line with Israel and the US, saying that the “risk of further escalation is real. This is why a credible transition in Iran is urgently needed” in comments on Sunday.

Sa’ar told Euronews said the strategic strikes and the elimination of Khamenei alongside top regime commanders could “create the conditions to weaken the regime enough to allow the Iranians to take their future into their own hands”.

“The future leadership of Iran should be determined by the Iranian people through free elections. Our only requirement is that whoever comes to power in Iran must not pursue the destruction of Israel,” he said.

Watch the full interview on Euronews from 8pm CET

World

Video: ‘We Are Orphans’: Shiite Muslims Protest the Killing of Khamenei

Published

11 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Video: ‘We Are Orphans’: Shiite Muslims Protest the Killing of Khamenei

new video loaded: ‘We Are Orphans’: Shiite Muslims Protest the Killing of Khamenei

Shiite Muslims around the world protested the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader and a senior Shiite Muslim cleric. He died on Saturday during U.S. and Israeli attacks on his country.

By Nader Ibrahim and Malachy Browne

March 1, 2026