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Mexico and central America correspondent
Vanessa Buschschlüter
BBC News
ReutersA former lawyer for the defense of the Lord of drugs imprisoned Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was elected judge during the first judicial elections of Mexico.
The heels published on Tuesday showed that Silvia Delgado had won enough votes to obtain a local criminal judge position in the city of Ciudad Juárez, on the American-Mexican border.
His candidacy was one of the most controversial elections held on June 1.
A main organization of transparency accused Delgado of being one of the many candidates having alleged ties with the crime organized on the voting sheet, an accusation which she rejected vehemently, arguing that she had simply done her job by defending El Chapo.
The 51-year-old lawyer was part of the defense team for El Chapo before the famous drug lord was extradited from Mexico to the United States in 2017.
The head of the Sinaloa cartel was found guilty of drug trafficking in 2019 and purges a perpetuity imprisonment in a Colorado Supermax prison.
In an interview with the BBC before the elections, Delgado argued that El Chapo was entitled to a legal advisor and rejected the suggestions of a conflict of interest, if she was elected judge.
After the publication of the tally vote on Tuesday, Delgado said that she refrains from commenting until his victory was officially confirmed.
The judicial election was the first of its kind to hold in Mexico following a radical reform brought by the Morena Party in power.
Its donors said that the election of judges – including the judges of the Supreme Court – in a direct vote would make the judicial power more democratic and liable to voters.
But her detractors argued that she had undermined the independence of the judiciary.
The participation rate was low at 13% – the lowest in all the federal votes organized in Mexico – which, according to many observers, showed that there was little enthusiasm among the Mexicans to choose the judges directly.
However, President Claudia Sheinbaum said the election was a resounding success.
