The day to vote for the judges is finally here. We don't have any figures yet, but everyone is talking about "absenteeism," the way that many plan to show their opposition to electing judges. Here is the story:

Some voting centers in Mexico City, the Gulf coast state of Veracruz and the southern state of Chiapas opened with no one or only a handful of people waiting to vote. Experts had warned that turnout in the historic elections could be extremely low, due to the mindboggling array of unfamiliar choices and the fact that voting for judges is entirely new.

Mexico's ruling party, Morena, overhauled the court system late last year, fueling protests and criticism that the reform is an attempt by those in power to seize on their political popularity to gain control of the branch of government until now out of their reach.

“It's an effort to control the court system, which has been a sort of thorn in the side" of those in power, said Laurence Patin, director of the legal organization Juicio Justo in Mexico. “But it's a counter-balance, which exists in every healthy democracy.”

So what's the big deal? Don't we vote for judges? Yes, we do but this is not like voting for local or state judges. Down in Mexico, every judge is up for election, including the Supreme Court. It's quite a drastic change from the past and the opposition is calling on people to say home. I just spoke with a couple of friends in Mexico City and they tell me that voting is down -- a major embarrassment for the ruling party.

The concerns about this reform go beyond the opposition party. There are many foreign companies who fear that the judiciary will be too politicized and their investments may be at risk. The Mexican government has assured investors that they won't be impacted at all.

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Image: Ralvachi