Lawmakers Seek to Delay Judicial Vote to 2028

MORENA lawmakers have introduced an initiative to delay Mexico’s next judicial election from 2027 to 2028, aiming to address flaws identified in the first round of voting. The proposal seeks to strengthen candidate screening, improve electoral rules, and adjust the rollout of the country’s judicial reform while maintaining the system of electing judges by popular vote.

MORENA lawmakers have introduced a new constitutional initiative to postpone Mexico’s second round of judicial elections from 2027 to 2028, arguing that the extra year is needed to correct flaws exposed by the first phase of the new system and to strengthen candidate screening. The proposal would alter the timetable created by the 2024 judicial reform, which established staggered elections in 2025 and 2027 for judges, magistrates, and other federal judicial posts.  

The move amounts to a recalibration of one of Mexico’s most consequential institutional overhauls in recent years. The 2024 constitutional reform, published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on Sept. 15, 2024, replaced the traditional judicial appointment model with popular elections and set the first extraordinary judicial election for 2025, followed by a second stage in 2027. MORENA’s new proposal would keep the election-by-vote model intact while changing the pace and rules of implementation.

MORENA legislators want to separate judicial races from midterm political elections and redesign the nomination process after the first round revealed operational and reputational weaknesses. Among the changes under discussion are stricter eligibility filters, technical evaluations for aspirants, limits on recent party militancy, and a reduction in the number of candidates per post. The proposal also contemplates a new single evaluation committee to review profiles before they reach the ballot.

The official argument is that the first election exposed gaps that could undermine the legitimacy of the reform if they are not addressed before the next round. Coverage of the initiative points to concerns over low voter participation, weak professional screening and the appearance of controversial or insufficiently qualified candidates in the 2025 process. MORENA does not want to reverse the reform, but to “perfect” it by tightening the rules and giving institutions more time to organize a less improvised second phase.

The proposal also shows that the political cost of the judicial reform is still being negotiated within the ruling bloc. While MORENA has defended the principle of electing judges as a democratic correction to an insulated judiciary, the party seems now to be implicitly acknowledging that the rollout has been less fluid than expected. That tension is central: the government wants to preserve the reform’s political narrative while adjusting the mechanism enough to avoid repeating the same criticisms in 2027. 

The initiative extends the transition period for the federal judiciary. Judicial reform has been one of the country’s most closely watched institutional changes since its approval, in part because of its implications for legal certainty, dispute resolution, and regulatory enforcement. By pushing the second electoral phase to 2028, MORENA would leave the new system in a longer period of adjustment, even as lawmakers try to present the delay as a stabilizing measure rather than a retreat.

The next question is whether the ruling coalition can convert the proposal into a constitutional amendment and whether allies will support reopening a reform that was framed only months ago as settled law.