Bolivia is the only country in the world that holds elections for top judicial posts. Soon Mexico will, too, after former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador pushed through a highly contentious overhaul of the justice system in the face of mass protests. As Bolivia’s ex-President Evo Morales did when remaking the judiciary in 2009, López Obrador has championed the overhaul as a way to purge the corrupt elite and boost democracy. But apathetic Bolivians voting for judges Sunday say the elections have had the opposite effect, turning their courts from neutral arbiters into political prizes.
