Janine M. Otálora Malassis informed the Senate that she will not extend her term as a TEPJF Magistrate, as the Judicial Reform allowed; He will leave his position in the Superior Chamber on October 31.
Mexico City, October 21 (However).– Janine Otálora, Magistrate of the Upper Room of the Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Branch of the Federation (TEPJF)announced that he will not extend his mandate, as the Judicial Reform last year, so he will leave his position on the last day of October. In this way, the plenary session will be incomplete again, now with six of the seven judges, after two new members joined in September after the judicial elections of 2024.
“Today I notified the Senate my decision to adhere to the terms of my appointment as Magistrate of Upper Room of the TEPJFin line with the protest that I gave in 2016 for a period of nine years,” he said on his social networks on Monday night.
Therefore, Otálora will conclude her duties as Magistrate of the Superior Chamber of the TEPJF next Friday, October 31.
“I have reported my decision for the purposes of Article 98 of the Constitution, which, in its first paragraph, establishes the rules for substitution of the members of the Electoral Tribunal. It has been an honor for me to serve as a Magistrate in the body of constitutional electoral justice of last resort. I appreciate the trust that was placed in me by the full Senate,” he added in his message.
Today I notified the @senadomexicano my decision to accept the terms of my appointment as a Superior Court judge @TEPJFin line with the protest I made in 2016 for a period of nine years.
— Janine M. Otalora (@ Janineotalora) October 20, 2025
Finally, he also thanked all the people who collaborated in the presentation he gave at the TEPJF throughout these years, “recognizing the quality of their work and their dedication.”
Janine Otálora Malassis has a degree in Law from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a doctorate in Political Science from the Sorbonne University of Paris.
She served as technical presentation secretary in the Federal Judiciary Council and as instructor secretary in the Superior Chamber of the TEPJF. She was the presiding judge of the Mexico City Regional Chamber, and head of the Electoral Public Defender’s Office for Indigenous Peoples and Communities.
In 2016, the Senate of the Republic appointed Otálora as Judge of the Superior Chamber of the TEPJF for a period of nine years, a body that she presided from November 2016 to January 2019.
His original term ends in October 2025, although he had the option of extending his term until 2027, to coincide with the Judicial Branch elections that will take place that year. However, he has refused to remain in office beyond October.
In 2024, in the first elections of the Judiciary, two judges were elected –Claudia Valle Aguilasocho and Gilberto Bátiz García– by popular vote to complete the plenary session, which worked for two years with five members when there should be seven in total.
The Superior Chamber of the TEPJF will be provisionally maintained with six members. In 2027, five magistrates will be renewed, including that of Otálora. Starting in November, there will be a vacancy again, which could complicate some votes as there is not an odd number of magistrates.
In accordance with Article 98 of the Constitution, cited by Otálora herself in her farewell message, “when the absence of a Magistrate of the Electoral Tribunal exceeds one month without a license or said absence is due to death, resignation or any cause of definitive separation, the vacancy will be filled by the person of the same gender who has obtained second place in number of votes in the election for that position.”
Therefore, it would be Concepción María del Rocío Balderas Fernández – nominated by the Executive Branch – who would occupy the position of Otálora, since in the elections for magistrates of the Superior Chamber of the TEPJF in 2024 it was she who came in second place among women.
“The Senate of the Republic will swear in the substitute person to serve for the remaining period of the assignment,” adds constitutional Article 98, which means that Balderas Fernández would only remain in the Superior Chamber of the TEPJF until 2027, when the Magistracy that Otálora leaves this month is renewed.
However, it remains to be seen whether the Senate will interpret Article 98 this way, or hold the vacancy for two years until the 2027 Judiciary elections.
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