fbpx
Wikipedia

Politics of Mexico

The politics of Mexico function within a framework of a federal presidential representative democratic republic whose government is based on a multi-party congressional system, where the President of Mexico is both head of state and head of government. The federal government represents the United Mexican States and is divided into three branches: executive, legislative and judicial, as established by the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, published in 1917. The constituent states of the federation must also have a republican form of government based on a congressional system as established by their respective constitutions.[1]

Politics of Mexico

Política de México
Polity typeFederal presidential constitutional republic
ConstitutionConstitution of Mexico
Legislative branch
NameCongress
TypeBicameral
Meeting placeLegislative Palace of San Lázaro
Upper house
NameSenate of the Republic
Presiding officerAna Lilia Rivera, President of the Senate of the Republic
Lower house
NameChamber of Deputies
Presiding officerMarcela Guerra Castillo, President of the Chamber of Deputies
Executive branch
Head of State and Government
TitlePresident
CurrentlyAndrés Manuel López Obrador
AppointerDirect popular vote
Cabinet
NameCabinet of Mexico
LeaderPresident
AppointerPresident
HeadquartersNational Palace
Ministries19
Judicial branch
Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation
Chief judgeNorma Lucía Piña Hernández
Federal Electoral Tribunal
Chief judgeFelipe Alfredo Fuentes Barrera

The executive power is exercised by the executive branch, which is headed by the President, advised by a cabinet of secretaries that are independent of the legislature. Legislative power is vested upon the Congress of the Union, a two-chamber legislature comprising the Senate of the Republic and the Chamber of Deputies. Judicial power is exercised by the judiciary, consisting of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, the Council of the Federal Judiciary and the collegiate, unitary and district tribunals.

Framework of twentieth-century politics edit

The Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) followed the overturn of Porfirio Díaz's dictatorship and ended with a new Mexican government being established within the legal framework of the Constitution of 1917.[2] The regime that followed can be considered a semi-authoritarian political model (or hybrid regime).[3] In 1920, a successful general in the revolution named Alvaro Obregón overthrew the temporary government of the revolutionary leader Venustiano Carranza, which resulted on his election as the president of Mexico.[4] He was then replaced by Plutarco Elías Calles, who ruled Mexico from 1924 to 1928.[5] After a change in the rules that prevented two mandates by the same person, Obregón came back to power in 1928, but was assassinated shortly after.[6] As a result, out-going president Calles founded a political party, the Partido Nacional Revolucionario (PNR), to solve the immediate political crisis of the assassination and to create a long term framework for political stability, especially the transition of presidential regimes.[7] The period from 1920–1934 in Mexico was marked by a strong presence of military in government and a failure to implement revolutionary reforms.[8]

Under President Lázaro Cárdenas (1934–40), the party underwent a transformation to the Partido de la Revolución Mexicana, which was organized on a corporate basis, with peasants, labor, the popular sector, and the military each having a sector, with power centralized.[9] The PRM aimed to mediate conflicts between competing sectors within the party, becoming an extension of the Mexican state.[10] In 1946, the party was transformed into the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and the army was no longer a sector.[11][12] During this time, the government nationalized key industries, such as oil, and implemented land reforms that redistributed property to peasants.[13][14]

Throughout the second decade of the twentieth century, Mexico experienced political tension and rising economic instability.[8] The late 1960s and early 1970s saw multiple protests from students and left-wing groups against PRI's authoritarian rule, to which the government responded with a crackdown that culminated in the infamous Tlatelolco Massacre of 1968, in which hundreds of protesters were killed.[15] However, the year 1982 gave way to market restructuring policies and gradual political reforms that prompted the democratic transition of Mexico (1982–2012).[16] The first efforts to introduce free and fair elections came with president Miguel de la Madrid in 1983, but the attempt was unsuccessful as he was opposed by politicians in his own party.[16]

In 1988, when Carlos Salinas de Gortari, a Harvard-trained economist, was chosen as the PRI presidential candidate, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, son of former President Lázaro Cárdenas, broke with the PRI and ran as a coalition candidate.[17] The 1988 elections were regarded as "the most fraudulent in Mexico's history.[18] In 1989 the leftists who had bolted the PRI formed the Party of the Democratic Revolution.[19] In the wake of the fraudulent 1988 elections, the administration of elections was taken out of the hands of the Mexican government's Ministry of the Interior (Gobernación) and the Instituto Federal Electoral (IFE) was created in 1990, with the aim of ensuring free and fair elections and creating public confidence in the process.[20] Besides greater political representation, Carlos Salinas's mandate (1988–1994) also saw economic improvements due to liberalization policies, facilitating the process of democratization.[16]

Political parties edit

 
Public consultation

Constitutionally, political parties in Mexico must promote the participation of the people in the democratic life of the country, contribute in the representation of the nation and citizens, and be the access through which citizens can participate in public office, through whatever programs, principles and ideals they postulate.[21] All political parties must be registered with the National Electoral Institute (Spanish: Instituto Nacional Electoral, INE), the institution in charge of organizing and overseeing the federal electoral processes, and must obtain at least 2% of votes in the federal elections to keep their registry. Registered political parties receive public funding for their operation and can also obtain private funding within the limits prescribed by the law. As of 2010 the following political parties are registered with the INE and all have representatives at the Congress of the Union:

Political parties are allowed to form alliances or coalitions to nominate candidates for any particular election. The coalition must identify itself with a particular name and logo. Proportional representation (plurinominal) seats are assigned to the coalition based on the percentage of votes obtained in the elections, and then the coalition reassigns them to the constituent political parties. Once each party in the coalition has been assigned plurinominal seats, they do not necessarily continue to work as a coalition in government.

Throughout the 20th century, PRI had an almost hegemonic power at the state and federal level, which slowly began to recede in the late 1980s.[22] Even though since the 1940s, PAN had won a couple of seats in the Congress, and in 1947 the first presidential municipality (in Quiroga, Michoacán),[23] it wasn't until 1989, that the first non-PRI state governor was elected (in Baja California). It was in 1997, that PRI lost its absolute majority at the Congress of the Union. In 2000 the first non-PRI president since 1929 was elected in what was regarded as the cleanest Mexican election since the end of the Mexican Revolution in 1920.[24]

Major Political Parties edit

As of Recently, The politics of Mexico are dominated by four political parties: Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), National Action Party (PAN), Democratic Revolution Party (PRD),and the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA).

Founded in 1929 as the Partido Nacional Revolucionario ("National Revolutionary Party"), the PRI has dominated Mexican politics for over 70 years bringing to power 11 different governments.

PAN was founded in 1939, but it did not win its first governorship until 1989; its candidates won the presidency in 2000 and 2006.

The beginnings of the PRD go back to 1988 when dissident members of PRI decided to challenge the leadership and nominated Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas for president of Mexico. Cardenas lost in a highly contested election, but a new political party was born and the party emerged as a third force in Mexican politics, even though they have never captured the presidency.

MORENA grew out of a dispute between Andrés Manuel López Obrador and other leaders of PRD after his loss in the 2012 presidential election presidential election. MORENA won its official recognition in 2014, and dominated the 2018 elections.

According to a survey by the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 2017, 74 percent of Mexicans believe that Mexico's electoral system is not transparent and distrust official results. However, Freedom House shows that popular belief in free and fair elections has increased ever since.

Elections and political composition of the institutions edit

 
Election package received by Mexicans living abroad.

Suffrage is universal, free, secret and direct for all Mexican citizens 18 and older, and is compulsory (but not enforced).[25] The identity document in Mexico serves also as the voting card, so all citizens are automatically registered for all elections; that is, no pre-registration is necessary for every election. All elections are direct; that is, no electoral college is constituted for any of the elections at the federal, state or municipal level. Only when an incumbent president is absolutely absent (either through resignation, impeachment or death), the Congress of the Union constitutes itself acts as an electoral college to elect an interim president by absolute majority.

 
Run anti-imposition Tijuana.

Presidential elections are scheduled every six years, except in the exceptional case of absolute absence of the president. However, the term of the current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will be only 5 years, 10 months (December 1, 2018 — September 30, 2024) due to a Constitutional change.[26] Legislative elections are scheduled every six years for the Senate, to be fully renewed in elections held concurrently with the presidential elections; and every three years for the Chamber of Deputies. Elections have traditionally been held on the first Sunday of July, but the new law means they will be held on the first Sunday in June instead.[26] State governors are also elected every six years, except in Baja California, where the governor is elected for a two-year term.[27] The state legislatures are renewed every three years. State elections need not be concurrent with federal elections. Federal elections are organized and supervised by the autonomous public Federal Electoral Institute, whereas state and municipal elections are organized and supervised by electoral institutes constituted by each state of the federation. Elections within Mexico City are also organized by a local electoral institute.

A strongly ingrained concept in Mexican political life is "no reelection." The theory was implemented after Porfirio Díaz managed to monopolize the presidency for over 25 years. Presently, Mexican presidents are limited to a single six-year term, and no one who has held the office even on a caretaker basis is allowed to hold the office again. Deputies and senators were not allowed to immediately succeed themselves until 2018; both may now serve a maximum of 12 consecutive years.

Federal elections edit

2006 edit

Federal presidential elections were held on July 2, 2006 concurrent with the full renovation of both chambers of the Congress of the Union. In these elections the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), the Labour Party (PT) and Convergence (CV) formed a coalition called Coalition for the Good of All. The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Ecologist Green Party (PVEM) formed a coalition called Alliance for Mexico. The Federal Electoral Tribunal declared Felipe Calderón the winner of the elections on September 5, and president-elect. He took office on December 1, 2006 and his term ended on November 30, 2012. The concurrent congressional elections were not contested by any party. Both chambers were completely renewed and no party obtained an absolute majority. This election has been noted by scholars, including Mexican sociologist Jacqueline Peschard, for the "breakdown in consensus that nearly resulted" as a result of the ensuing indeterminacy and the problems that has posed for Mexican democracy.[28]

2012 edit

In 2012, Mexico elected Enrique Peña Nieto as President.[29]

2018 edit

 
Meeting between Peña Nieto and López Obrador in the National Palace, 2018

In 2018, Mexico elected Andrés Manuel López Obrador as President.[30] He ran under a three-party coalition led by the leftist National Regeneration Movement (Morena) party he founded in 2014.[31]

State elections edit

The elections in each state are done at different times, depending on the state, and are not necessarily held at the same time with the federal elections. as of December 2023[32]

Historical political development edit

 
Mexican states governed by political party
  PRI
  PAN
  MORENA
  PRD
  PES
  MC
 
President Vicente Fox (left) with López Obrador (center) and former México State governor Arturo Montiel (right).

The Mexican Revolution (1910 - 1920) was followed by the Great Depression, which led to a severely fragmented society and very weak institutions.[33] In 1929, all factions and generals of the Mexican Revolution were united into a single party, the National Revolutionary Party (NRP), with the aim of stabilizing the country and ending internal conflicts. During the following administrations, since 1928, many of the revolutionary ideals were put into effect, among them the free distribution of land to peasants and farmers, the nationalization of the oil companies, the birth and rapid growth of the Social Security Institute as well as that of Labor Unions, and the protection of national industries.

President Lázaro Cárdenas was fundamental to recover some of the social control that was lost during the Revolution and the following economic meltdown in the United States. However, Cárdenas was followed by a series of less-talented leaders that were unable to continue this path and establish an effective rule of law on Mexican society. Moreover, Cárdenas presidency happened before the UN focused on states as the rule in the 1940s and 1950s.[33]

The NRP was later renamed the Mexican Revolution Party and finally the Institutional Revolutionary Party. The social institutions created by the party itself provided it with the necessary strength to stay in power. In time, the system gradually became, as some political scientists have labeled it, an "electoral authoritarianism",[34] in that the party resorted to any means necessary, except that of the dissolution of the constitutional and electoral system itself, to remain in power. In fact, Mexico was considered a bastion of continued constitutional government in times where coup d'états and military dictatorships were the norm in Latin America, in that the institutions were renovated electorally, even if only in appearance and with little participation of the opposition parties at the local level.

 
Anniversary of the Birth of the President Benito Juarez in the Alameda Central, 2013.

The lack of the establishment of a true democracy in Mexico can be partially explained many factors, like the ones described above. However, one of them could also be the oil reserves that exist in the country and that were nationalized by the Cárdenas government. Several empirical studies point to a correlation between the existence of natural resources and the difficulty of turning into a democracy.[35]

The first cracks in the system, even though they were merely symbolic, were the 1970s reforms to the electoral system and the composition of the Congress of the Union which for the first time incorporated proportional representation seats allowing opposition parties to obtain seats, though limited in number, in the Chamber of Deputies. As minority parties became involved in the system, they gradually demanded more changes, and a full democratic representation. Even though in the 1960s, a couple (of more than two thousand) municipalities were governed by opposition parties, the first state government to be won by an opposition party was Baja California, in 1989.

Historically, there were important high-profile defections from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, like the ones of Juan Andreu Almazán (1940), Ezequiel Padilla (1946), Miguel Henríquez Guzmán (1952), and Cuahtémoc Cárdenas (1988), son of President Lázaro Cárdenas. These departures happened mainly because they opposed the presidential candidate nominations; however, only Cárdenas departure in 1988 resulted in the establishment of another political party (Party of the Democratic Revolution).[36]

The presidential elections held in 1988 marked a watershed in Mexican politics, as they were the first serious threat to the party in power by an opposition candidate: Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, who was nominated by a broad coalition of leftist parties. He officially received 31.1 percent of the vote, against 50.4 percent for Carlos Salinas de Gortari, the PRI candidate, and 17 percent for Manuel Clouthier of the National Action Party (PAN). It was believed by some that Cardenas had won the election, but that the then government-controlled electoral commission had altered the results after the infamous "the system crashed" (se cayó el sistema, as it was reported). In the concurrent elections, the PRI came within 11 seats of losing the majority of Chamber of Deputies, and opposition parties captured 4 of the 64 Senate seats—the first time that the PRI had failed to hold every seat in the Senate. Capitalizing on the popularity of President Salinas, however, the PRI rebounded in the mid-term congressional elections of 1991, winning 320 seats.

 
AMLO meeting with University students in Tlatelolco Square.

Subsequent changes included the creation of the Federal Electoral Institute in the 1990s and the inclusion of proportional representation and first minority seats in the Senate. The presidential election of 1994 was judged to be the first relatively free election in modern Mexican history. Ernesto Zedillo of the PRI won with 50.2 percent of the vote, against 26.7 percent for Diego Fernández de Cevallos of PAN and 17.1 percent for Cardenas, who this time represented the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). Although the opposition campaign was hurt by the desire of the Mexican electorate for stability, following the assassination of Luis Donaldo Colosio (the intended PRI candidate) and the recent outbreak of hostilities in the state of Chiapas, Zedillo's share of the vote was the lowest official percentage for any PRI presidential candidate up to that time.

In the 1997 mid-term elections, no party held majority in the Chamber of Deputies, and in 2000 the first opposition party president was sworn in office since 1929. Vicente Fox won the election with 43% of the vote, followed by PRI candidate Francisco Labastida with 36%, and Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) with 17%.

Numerous electoral reforms implemented after 1989 aided in the opening of the Mexican political system, and opposition parties made historic gains in elections at all levels. Many of the current electoral concerns have shifted from outright fraud to campaign fairness issues. During 1995-96 the political parties negotiated constitutional amendments to address these issues. Implementing legislation included major points of consensus that had been worked out with the opposition parties. The thrust of the new laws has public financing predominate over private contributions to political parties, tighter procedures for auditing the political parties, and strengthening the authority and independence of electoral institutions. The court system also was given greatly expanded authority to hear civil rights cases on electoral matters brought by individuals or groups. In short, the extensive reform efforts have "leveled the playing field" for the parties.

The 2006 elections saw the PRI fall to third place behind both the PAN and the PRD. Roberto Madrazo, the presidential candidate, polled only 22.3 percent of the vote, and the party ended up with only 121 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, a loss of more than half of what the party had obtained in 2003, and 38 seats in the Senate, a loss of 22 seats. Felipe Calderón, a conservative former energy minister, won a narrow victory, and he was elected as the new president. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, lost the very tight race, did not accept the result.[37]

In the 2012 elections, Enrique Peña Nieto was elected as the president of Mexico, meaning the return of PRI after 12 years out of power.[29]

On 1 December 2018, Andrés Manuel López Obrador sworn in as Mexico's first leftist president in seven decades, after winning a landslide victory in July 2018 elections.[38] In June 2021 midterm elections, López Obrador's left-leaning Morena’s coalition lost seats in the lower house of Congress. However, his ruling coalition maintained a simple majority, but López Obrador failed to secure the two-thirds congressional supermajority. The main opposition was a coalition of Mexico’s three traditional parties: the center-right Revolutionary Institutional Party, right-wing National Action Party and leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution.[39]

See also edit

References and notes edit

  1. ^ OECD (2004-10-20). OECD Territorial Reviews: Mexico City 2004. OECD Publishing. ISBN 978-92-64-01832-7.
  2. ^ Duncan, Raymond. "The Mexican Constitution OF 1917 compared with the Constitution of 1857" in American Academy of Political and Social Science. Philadelphia: 1917, p. 8–122.
  3. ^ Ai Camp, Roderic. "Democratizing Mexican Politics, 1982–2012" in Oxford Research Encyclopedia. Claremont: 2015, p. 1.
  4. ^ "Revolt against Carranza, His Death, and Obregón's 1920 Presidential Campaign". Library of Congress. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  5. ^ "Plutarco Elias Calles". Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  6. ^ "Álvaro Obregón: así fue el asesinato del caudillo". El Financiero (in Spanish). 17 July 2018. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  7. ^ "El Nacional Revolucionario, 9 de junio de 1929". El Nacional Revolucionario (in Spanish). Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  8. ^ a b Raby, David. "Mexican Political and Social Development since 1920" in Canadian Association of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Toronto: 1976, p. 27.
  9. ^ "Del Partido de grupo al partido de masas: La transformación del PNR al PRM". Gobierno de Mexico (in Spanish). Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  10. ^ "El PNR se convierte en el Partido de la Revolución Mexicana". Memoria Politica de Mexico (in Spanish). Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  11. ^ Schmidt, Samuel. "Politics and Government: 1946–1996" in Encyclopedia of Mexico. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997, p. 1121–1127.
  12. ^ Brachet-Márquez, Viviane. "Politics and Government: 1910–1946" in Encyclopedia of Mexico. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997, pp. 1118–1121.
  13. ^ Rippy, Merrill. "The Nationalized Oil Industry of Mexico: 1938–55". Chicago: The Southwestern Social Science Quarterly 1957, pp. 6–18.
  14. ^ Dell, Melissa. "Path dependence in development: Evidence from the Mexican Revolution". Boston: Harvard University Press 2012, pp. 1–37.
  15. ^ "Mexico, October 2, 1968 – The Tlatelolco Massacre". 1968: A Global Year of Student Driven Change – UCSB Department of Black Studies. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  16. ^ a b c Ai Camp, Roderic. Democratizing Mexican Politics, 1982–2012. Oxford University Press: 2015
  17. ^ "Ruling Party and Tradition Under Attack : Mexico's Campaign Goes Topsy-Turvy". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
  18. ^ Schmidt, "Politics and Government, 1946–1996", p. 1126.
  19. ^ Bruhn, Kathleen. Taking on Goliath: The Emergence of a New Left Party and the Struggle for Democracy in Mexico. Penn State University Press 2004
  20. ^ Uges, Antonio, "Citizens' Views on Electoral Governance in Mexico accessed 6 March 2020
  21. ^ . Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-03-07.
  22. ^ Peschard-Sverdrup, Armand; Rioff, Sara (April 20, 2005). Mexican Governance: From Single-party Rule to Divided Government (1 ed.). Center for Strategic & International Studies. ISBN 978-0892064571.
  23. ^ Efemérides del PAN
  24. ^ Duncan, Raymond. "Mexico's Democratic Transition: The Search for New Reform Coalitions" in Law and Business Reviews of the Americas. Mexico: 2003, p. 283.
  25. ^ Adrian Joaquin Miranda Camarena (November 5, 2013). "El Sufragio en Mexico: Su obligatorierdad" [Cumpulsory Voting in Mexico] (PDF). Biblioteca Jurídica Virtual del Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas de la UNAM (in Spanish). Retrieved July 19, 2019.
  26. ^ a b Juan Carlos Gutiérrez (July 3, 2018). "El periodo de gobierno de López Obrador durará 2 meses menos" [Lpez Obrador's presidency will last two fewer months]. Milenio (in Spanish). Mexico City.
  27. ^ "BC cambiará el periodo para gobernar en 2019" [BC to change the term for governor in 2019]. Diario de Mexico (in Spanish). June 10, 2018. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
  28. ^ Peschard, Jacqueline; Selee, Andrew (May 1, 2010). Mexico's Democratic Challenges: Politics, Government, and Society (1 ed.). Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804771610.
  29. ^ a b City, Associated Press in Mexico (2 December 2012). "Enrique Peña Nieto takes office as Mexico's president". the Guardian.
  30. ^ https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/IF10867.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  31. ^ "Who is Mexico's Andrés Manuel López Obrador?". BBC News. 29 November 2018.
  32. ^ Digital, Tiempo-La Noticia. "Así quedan las 32 gubernaturas tras las elecciones (MAPA)". tiempo.com.mx (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2021-12-24.
  33. ^ a b S., Migdal, Joel (1988). Strong societies and weak states : state-society relations and state capabilities in the third world. Princeton University press. ISBN 9780691010731. OCLC 876100982.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  34. ^ Using the phrase of Schedler A (2004) From Electoral Authoritarianism to Democratic Consolidation" in Mexico's Democracy at Work, Crandall R, Paz G, Roett R (editors), Lyenne Reinner Publisher, Colorado USA
  35. ^ Clark, William Roberts, Matt Golder, and Sona N. Golder. 2013. “Power and politics: insights from an exit, voice, and loyalty game.” Unpublished manuscript, University of Michigan and Pennsylvania State University.
  36. ^ Beatriz., Magaloni (2008). Voting for autocracy : hegemonic party survival and its demise in Mexico. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521736596. OCLC 772633021.
  37. ^ McKinley, James C. Jr.; Thompson, Ginger (6 July 2006). "Calderón Wins Narrow Victory in Mexico Election". The New York Times.
  38. ^ "Mexico's López Obrador sworn in as first leftist president in decades". BBC News. 2 December 2018.
  39. ^ Karol Suarez, Rafael Romo and Joshua Berlinger. "Mexico's President loses grip on power in midterm elections marred by violence". CNN.

Further reading edit

  • Bruhn, Kathleen. Taking on Goliath. Penn State University Press 2004. ISBN 978-0271025117

External links edit

  • Presidency of the United Mexican States
  • Chamber of Deputies
  • Senate of the Republic
  • Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation
  • Official Youtube page

politics, mexico, this, article, needs, updated, please, help, update, this, article, reflect, recent, events, newly, available, information, july, 2023, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, c. This article needs to be updated Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information July 2023 This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Politics of Mexico news newspapers books scholar JSTOR March 2019 Learn how and when to remove this template message The politics of Mexico function within a framework of a federal presidential representative democratic republic whose government is based on a multi party congressional system where the President of Mexico is both head of state and head of government The federal government represents the United Mexican States and is divided into three branches executive legislative and judicial as established by the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States published in 1917 The constituent states of the federation must also have a republican form of government based on a congressional system as established by their respective constitutions 1 Politics of Mexico Politica de MexicoSeal of the Government of MexicoPolity typeFederal presidential constitutional republicConstitutionConstitution of MexicoLegislative branchNameCongressTypeBicameralMeeting placeLegislative Palace of San LazaroUpper houseNameSenate of the RepublicPresiding officerAna Lilia Rivera President of the Senate of the RepublicLower houseNameChamber of DeputiesPresiding officerMarcela Guerra Castillo President of the Chamber of DeputiesExecutive branchHead of State and GovernmentTitlePresidentCurrentlyAndres Manuel Lopez ObradorAppointerDirect popular voteCabinetNameCabinet of MexicoLeaderPresidentAppointerPresidentHeadquartersNational PalaceMinistries19Judicial branchSupreme Court of Justice of the NationChief judgeNorma Lucia Pina HernandezFederal Electoral TribunalChief judgeFelipe Alfredo Fuentes BarreraThe executive power is exercised by the executive branch which is headed by the President advised by a cabinet of secretaries that are independent of the legislature Legislative power is vested upon the Congress of the Union a two chamber legislature comprising the Senate of the Republic and the Chamber of Deputies Judicial power is exercised by the judiciary consisting of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation the Council of the Federal Judiciary and the collegiate unitary and district tribunals Contents 1 Framework of twentieth century politics 2 Political parties 2 1 Major Political Parties 3 Elections and political composition of the institutions 3 1 Federal elections 3 1 1 2006 3 1 2 2012 3 1 3 2018 3 2 State elections 4 Historical political development 5 See also 6 References and notes 7 Further reading 8 External linksFramework of twentieth century politics editThe Mexican Revolution 1910 1920 followed the overturn of Porfirio Diaz s dictatorship and ended with a new Mexican government being established within the legal framework of the Constitution of 1917 2 The regime that followed can be considered a semi authoritarian political model or hybrid regime 3 In 1920 a successful general in the revolution named Alvaro Obregon overthrew the temporary government of the revolutionary leader Venustiano Carranza which resulted on his election as the president of Mexico 4 He was then replaced by Plutarco Elias Calles who ruled Mexico from 1924 to 1928 5 After a change in the rules that prevented two mandates by the same person Obregon came back to power in 1928 but was assassinated shortly after 6 As a result out going president Calles founded a political party the Partido Nacional Revolucionario PNR to solve the immediate political crisis of the assassination and to create a long term framework for political stability especially the transition of presidential regimes 7 The period from 1920 1934 in Mexico was marked by a strong presence of military in government and a failure to implement revolutionary reforms 8 Under President Lazaro Cardenas 1934 40 the party underwent a transformation to the Partido de la Revolucion Mexicana which was organized on a corporate basis with peasants labor the popular sector and the military each having a sector with power centralized 9 The PRM aimed to mediate conflicts between competing sectors within the party becoming an extension of the Mexican state 10 In 1946 the party was transformed into the Institutional Revolutionary Party PRI and the army was no longer a sector 11 12 During this time the government nationalized key industries such as oil and implemented land reforms that redistributed property to peasants 13 14 Throughout the second decade of the twentieth century Mexico experienced political tension and rising economic instability 8 The late 1960s and early 1970s saw multiple protests from students and left wing groups against PRI s authoritarian rule to which the government responded with a crackdown that culminated in the infamous Tlatelolco Massacre of 1968 in which hundreds of protesters were killed 15 However the year 1982 gave way to market restructuring policies and gradual political reforms that prompted the democratic transition of Mexico 1982 2012 16 The first efforts to introduce free and fair elections came with president Miguel de la Madrid in 1983 but the attempt was unsuccessful as he was opposed by politicians in his own party 16 In 1988 when Carlos Salinas de Gortari a Harvard trained economist was chosen as the PRI presidential candidate Cuauhtemoc Cardenas son of former President Lazaro Cardenas broke with the PRI and ran as a coalition candidate 17 The 1988 elections were regarded as the most fraudulent in Mexico s history 18 In 1989 the leftists who had bolted the PRI formed the Party of the Democratic Revolution 19 In the wake of the fraudulent 1988 elections the administration of elections was taken out of the hands of the Mexican government s Ministry of the Interior Gobernacion and the Instituto Federal Electoral IFE was created in 1990 with the aim of ensuring free and fair elections and creating public confidence in the process 20 Besides greater political representation Carlos Salinas s mandate 1988 1994 also saw economic improvements due to liberalization policies facilitating the process of democratization 16 nbsp Logo of the National Revolutionary Party 1929 1938 nbsp Logo of the Mexican Revolution Party 1938 1946 nbsp Logo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party 1946 nbsp Logo of the National Action Party the first opposition party to the PRI 1939 nbsp Logo for the leftist Democratic Revolution Party 1989 Political parties editMain article List of political parties in Mexico nbsp Public consultationConstitutionally political parties in Mexico must promote the participation of the people in the democratic life of the country contribute in the representation of the nation and citizens and be the access through which citizens can participate in public office through whatever programs principles and ideals they postulate 21 All political parties must be registered with the National Electoral Institute Spanish Instituto Nacional Electoral INE the institution in charge of organizing and overseeing the federal electoral processes and must obtain at least 2 of votes in the federal elections to keep their registry Registered political parties receive public funding for their operation and can also obtain private funding within the limits prescribed by the law As of 2010 the following political parties are registered with the INE and all have representatives at the Congress of the Union Institutional Revolutionary Party Partido Revolucionario Institucional PRI founded in 1929 National Action Party Partido Accion Nacional PAN founded in 1939 Party of the Democratic Revolution Partido de la Revolucion Democratica PRD founded in 1989 Labor Party Partido del Trabajo PT founded in 1990 Green Ecological Party Partido Verde Ecologista de Mexico PVEM founded in 1986 but lost its registration for two consecutive elections it has retained its registration since 1993 Citizens Movement Movimiento Ciudadano MC founded in 1997 National Regeneration Movement Morena founded in 2012 Political parties are allowed to form alliances or coalitions to nominate candidates for any particular election The coalition must identify itself with a particular name and logo Proportional representation plurinominal seats are assigned to the coalition based on the percentage of votes obtained in the elections and then the coalition reassigns them to the constituent political parties Once each party in the coalition has been assigned plurinominal seats they do not necessarily continue to work as a coalition in government Throughout the 20th century PRI had an almost hegemonic power at the state and federal level which slowly began to recede in the late 1980s 22 Even though since the 1940s PAN had won a couple of seats in the Congress and in 1947 the first presidential municipality in Quiroga Michoacan 23 it wasn t until 1989 that the first non PRI state governor was elected in Baja California It was in 1997 that PRI lost its absolute majority at the Congress of the Union In 2000 the first non PRI president since 1929 was elected in what was regarded as the cleanest Mexican election since the end of the Mexican Revolution in 1920 24 Major Political Parties edit As of Recently The politics of Mexico are dominated by four political parties Institutional Revolutionary Party PRI National Action Party PAN Democratic Revolution Party PRD and the National Regeneration Movement MORENA Founded in 1929 as the Partido Nacional Revolucionario National Revolutionary Party the PRI has dominated Mexican politics for over 70 years bringing to power 11 different governments PAN was founded in 1939 but it did not win its first governorship until 1989 its candidates won the presidency in 2000 and 2006 The beginnings of the PRD go back to 1988 when dissident members of PRI decided to challenge the leadership and nominated Cuauhtemoc Cardenas for president of Mexico Cardenas lost in a highly contested election but a new political party was born and the party emerged as a third force in Mexican politics even though they have never captured the presidency MORENA grew out of a dispute between Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and other leaders of PRD after his loss in the 2012 presidential election presidential election MORENA won its official recognition in 2014 and dominated the 2018 elections According to a survey by the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 2017 74 percent of Mexicans believe that Mexico s electoral system is not transparent and distrust official results However Freedom House shows that popular belief in free and fair elections has increased ever since Elections and political composition of the institutions editThis article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Politics of Mexico news newspapers books scholar JSTOR March 2019 Learn how and when to remove this template message See also Elections in Mexico nbsp Election package received by Mexicans living abroad Suffrage is universal free secret and direct for all Mexican citizens 18 and older and is compulsory but not enforced 25 The identity document in Mexico serves also as the voting card so all citizens are automatically registered for all elections that is no pre registration is necessary for every election All elections are direct that is no electoral college is constituted for any of the elections at the federal state or municipal level Only when an incumbent president is absolutely absent either through resignation impeachment or death the Congress of the Union constitutes itself acts as an electoral college to elect an interim president by absolute majority nbsp Run anti imposition Tijuana Presidential elections are scheduled every six years except in the exceptional case of absolute absence of the president However the term of the current president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will be only 5 years 10 months December 1 2018 September 30 2024 due to a Constitutional change 26 Legislative elections are scheduled every six years for the Senate to be fully renewed in elections held concurrently with the presidential elections and every three years for the Chamber of Deputies Elections have traditionally been held on the first Sunday of July but the new law means they will be held on the first Sunday in June instead 26 State governors are also elected every six years except in Baja California where the governor is elected for a two year term 27 The state legislatures are renewed every three years State elections need not be concurrent with federal elections Federal elections are organized and supervised by the autonomous public Federal Electoral Institute whereas state and municipal elections are organized and supervised by electoral institutes constituted by each state of the federation Elections within Mexico City are also organized by a local electoral institute A strongly ingrained concept in Mexican political life is no reelection The theory was implemented after Porfirio Diaz managed to monopolize the presidency for over 25 years Presently Mexican presidents are limited to a single six year term and no one who has held the office even on a caretaker basis is allowed to hold the office again Deputies and senators were not allowed to immediately succeed themselves until 2018 both may now serve a maximum of 12 consecutive years Federal elections edit 2006 edit Main article 2006 Mexican general election Federal presidential elections were held on July 2 2006 concurrent with the full renovation of both chambers of the Congress of the Union In these elections the Party of the Democratic Revolution PRD the Labour Party PT and Convergence CV formed a coalition called Coalition for the Good of All The Institutional Revolutionary Party PRI and the Ecologist Green Party PVEM formed a coalition called Alliance for Mexico The Federal Electoral Tribunal declared Felipe Calderon the winner of the elections on September 5 and president elect He took office on December 1 2006 and his term ended on November 30 2012 The concurrent congressional elections were not contested by any party Both chambers were completely renewed and no party obtained an absolute majority This election has been noted by scholars including Mexican sociologist Jacqueline Peschard for the breakdown in consensus that nearly resulted as a result of the ensuing indeterminacy and the problems that has posed for Mexican democracy 28 2012 edit Main article 2012 Mexican general election In 2012 Mexico elected Enrique Pena Nieto as President 29 2018 edit Main article 2018 Mexican general election nbsp Meeting between Pena Nieto and Lopez Obrador in the National Palace 2018In 2018 Mexico elected Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as President 30 He ran under a three party coalition led by the leftist National Regeneration Movement Morena party he founded in 2014 31 State elections edit See also State governments of Mexico The elections in each state are done at different times depending on the state and are not necessarily held at the same time with the federal elections as of December 2023 32 PRI governs 3 states Coahuila Hidalgo and Mexico PAN governs 8 states Aguascalientes Chihuahua Durango Guanajuato Queretaro Quintana Roo Tamaulipas and Yucatan PVEM governs a state San Luis Potosi MC governs 2 states Jalisco and Nuevo Leon Morena governs the remaining 18 statesHistorical political development editSee also History of democracy in Mexico nbsp Mexican states governed by political party PRI PAN MORENA PRD PES MC Independent nbsp President Vicente Fox left with Lopez Obrador center and former Mexico State governor Arturo Montiel right The Mexican Revolution 1910 1920 was followed by the Great Depression which led to a severely fragmented society and very weak institutions 33 In 1929 all factions and generals of the Mexican Revolution were united into a single party the National Revolutionary Party NRP with the aim of stabilizing the country and ending internal conflicts During the following administrations since 1928 many of the revolutionary ideals were put into effect among them the free distribution of land to peasants and farmers the nationalization of the oil companies the birth and rapid growth of the Social Security Institute as well as that of Labor Unions and the protection of national industries President Lazaro Cardenas was fundamental to recover some of the social control that was lost during the Revolution and the following economic meltdown in the United States However Cardenas was followed by a series of less talented leaders that were unable to continue this path and establish an effective rule of law on Mexican society Moreover Cardenas presidency happened before the UN focused on states as the rule in the 1940s and 1950s 33 The NRP was later renamed the Mexican Revolution Party and finally the Institutional Revolutionary Party The social institutions created by the party itself provided it with the necessary strength to stay in power In time the system gradually became as some political scientists have labeled it an electoral authoritarianism 34 in that the party resorted to any means necessary except that of the dissolution of the constitutional and electoral system itself to remain in power In fact Mexico was considered a bastion of continued constitutional government in times where coup d etats and military dictatorships were the norm in Latin America in that the institutions were renovated electorally even if only in appearance and with little participation of the opposition parties at the local level nbsp Anniversary of the Birth of the President Benito Juarez in the Alameda Central 2013 The lack of the establishment of a true democracy in Mexico can be partially explained many factors like the ones described above However one of them could also be the oil reserves that exist in the country and that were nationalized by the Cardenas government Several empirical studies point to a correlation between the existence of natural resources and the difficulty of turning into a democracy 35 The first cracks in the system even though they were merely symbolic were the 1970s reforms to the electoral system and the composition of the Congress of the Union which for the first time incorporated proportional representation seats allowing opposition parties to obtain seats though limited in number in the Chamber of Deputies As minority parties became involved in the system they gradually demanded more changes and a full democratic representation Even though in the 1960s a couple of more than two thousand municipalities were governed by opposition parties the first state government to be won by an opposition party was Baja California in 1989 Historically there were important high profile defections from the Institutional Revolutionary Party like the ones of Juan Andreu Almazan 1940 Ezequiel Padilla 1946 Miguel Henriquez Guzman 1952 and Cuahtemoc Cardenas 1988 son of President Lazaro Cardenas These departures happened mainly because they opposed the presidential candidate nominations however only Cardenas departure in 1988 resulted in the establishment of another political party Party of the Democratic Revolution 36 The presidential elections held in 1988 marked a watershed in Mexican politics as they were the first serious threat to the party in power by an opposition candidate Cuauhtemoc Cardenas who was nominated by a broad coalition of leftist parties He officially received 31 1 percent of the vote against 50 4 percent for Carlos Salinas de Gortari the PRI candidate and 17 percent for Manuel Clouthier of the National Action Party PAN It was believed by some that Cardenas had won the election but that the then government controlled electoral commission had altered the results after the infamous the system crashed se cayo el sistema as it was reported In the concurrent elections the PRI came within 11 seats of losing the majority of Chamber of Deputies and opposition parties captured 4 of the 64 Senate seats the first time that the PRI had failed to hold every seat in the Senate Capitalizing on the popularity of President Salinas however the PRI rebounded in the mid term congressional elections of 1991 winning 320 seats nbsp AMLO meeting with University students in Tlatelolco Square Subsequent changes included the creation of the Federal Electoral Institute in the 1990s and the inclusion of proportional representation and first minority seats in the Senate The presidential election of 1994 was judged to be the first relatively free election in modern Mexican history Ernesto Zedillo of the PRI won with 50 2 percent of the vote against 26 7 percent for Diego Fernandez de Cevallos of PAN and 17 1 percent for Cardenas who this time represented the Party of the Democratic Revolution PRD Although the opposition campaign was hurt by the desire of the Mexican electorate for stability following the assassination of Luis Donaldo Colosio the intended PRI candidate and the recent outbreak of hostilities in the state of Chiapas Zedillo s share of the vote was the lowest official percentage for any PRI presidential candidate up to that time In the 1997 mid term elections no party held majority in the Chamber of Deputies and in 2000 the first opposition party president was sworn in office since 1929 Vicente Fox won the election with 43 of the vote followed by PRI candidate Francisco Labastida with 36 and Cuauhtemoc Cardenas of the Party of the Democratic Revolution PRD with 17 Numerous electoral reforms implemented after 1989 aided in the opening of the Mexican political system and opposition parties made historic gains in elections at all levels Many of the current electoral concerns have shifted from outright fraud to campaign fairness issues During 1995 96 the political parties negotiated constitutional amendments to address these issues Implementing legislation included major points of consensus that had been worked out with the opposition parties The thrust of the new laws has public financing predominate over private contributions to political parties tighter procedures for auditing the political parties and strengthening the authority and independence of electoral institutions The court system also was given greatly expanded authority to hear civil rights cases on electoral matters brought by individuals or groups In short the extensive reform efforts have leveled the playing field for the parties The 2006 elections saw the PRI fall to third place behind both the PAN and the PRD Roberto Madrazo the presidential candidate polled only 22 3 percent of the vote and the party ended up with only 121 seats in the Chamber of Deputies a loss of more than half of what the party had obtained in 2003 and 38 seats in the Senate a loss of 22 seats Felipe Calderon a conservative former energy minister won a narrow victory and he was elected as the new president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador lost the very tight race did not accept the result 37 In the 2012 elections Enrique Pena Nieto was elected as the president of Mexico meaning the return of PRI after 12 years out of power 29 On 1 December 2018 Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador sworn in as Mexico s first leftist president in seven decades after winning a landslide victory in July 2018 elections 38 In June 2021 midterm elections Lopez Obrador s left leaning Morena s coalition lost seats in the lower house of Congress However his ruling coalition maintained a simple majority but Lopez Obrador failed to secure the two thirds congressional supermajority The main opposition was a coalition of Mexico s three traditional parties the center right Revolutionary Institutional Party right wing National Action Party and leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution 39 See also edit nbsp Mexico portal nbsp Politics portalState governments of Mexico Federal government of Mexico Powers of the Union Mexico Law of Mexico History of democracy in MexicoReferences and notes edit OECD 2004 10 20 OECD Territorial Reviews Mexico City 2004 OECD Publishing ISBN 978 92 64 01832 7 Duncan Raymond The Mexican Constitution OF 1917 compared with the Constitution of 1857 in American Academy of Political and Social Science Philadelphia 1917 p 8 122 Ai Camp Roderic Democratizing Mexican Politics 1982 2012 in Oxford Research Encyclopedia Claremont 2015 p 1 Revolt against Carranza His Death and Obregon s 1920 Presidential Campaign Library of Congress Retrieved March 6 2023 Plutarco Elias Calles Retrieved March 6 2023 Alvaro Obregon asi fue el asesinato del caudillo El Financiero in Spanish 17 July 2018 Retrieved March 9 2023 El Nacional Revolucionario 9 de junio de 1929 El Nacional Revolucionario in Spanish Retrieved March 9 2023 a b Raby David Mexican Political and Social Development since 1920 in Canadian Association of Latin American and Caribbean Studies Toronto 1976 p 27 Del Partido de grupo al partido de masas La transformacion del PNR al PRM Gobierno de Mexico in Spanish Retrieved March 10 2023 El PNR se convierte en el Partido de la Revolucion Mexicana Memoria Politica de Mexico in Spanish Retrieved March 10 2023 Schmidt Samuel Politics and Government 1946 1996 in Encyclopedia of Mexico Chicago Fitzroy Dearborn 1997 p 1121 1127 Brachet Marquez Viviane Politics and Government 1910 1946 in Encyclopedia of Mexico Chicago Fitzroy Dearborn 1997 pp 1118 1121 Rippy Merrill The Nationalized Oil Industry of Mexico 1938 55 Chicago The Southwestern Social Science Quarterly 1957 pp 6 18 Dell Melissa Path dependence in development Evidence from the Mexican Revolution Boston Harvard University Press 2012 pp 1 37 Mexico October 2 1968 The Tlatelolco Massacre 1968 A Global Year of Student Driven Change UCSB Department of Black Studies Retrieved March 10 2023 a b c Ai Camp Roderic Democratizing Mexican Politics 1982 2012 Oxford University Press 2015 Ruling Party and Tradition Under Attack Mexico s Campaign Goes Topsy Turvy Los Angeles Times Retrieved March 10 2023 Schmidt Politics and Government 1946 1996 p 1126 Bruhn Kathleen Taking on Goliath The Emergence of a New Left Party and the Struggle for Democracy in Mexico Penn State University Press 2004 Uges Antonio Citizens Views on Electoral Governance in Mexico accessed 6 March 2020 Article 41 Political Constitution of the United Mexican States Archived from the original on 2007 09 28 Retrieved 2007 03 07 Peschard Sverdrup Armand Rioff Sara April 20 2005 Mexican Governance From Single party Rule to Divided Government 1 ed Center for Strategic amp International Studies ISBN 978 0892064571 Efemerides del PAN Duncan Raymond Mexico s Democratic Transition The Search for New Reform Coalitions in Law and Business Reviews of the Americas Mexico 2003 p 283 Adrian Joaquin Miranda Camarena November 5 2013 El Sufragio en Mexico Su obligatorierdad Cumpulsory Voting in Mexico PDF Biblioteca Juridica Virtual del Instituto de Investigaciones Juridicas de la UNAM in Spanish Retrieved July 19 2019 a b Juan Carlos Gutierrez July 3 2018 El periodo de gobierno de Lopez Obrador durara 2 meses menos Lpez Obrador s presidency will last two fewer months Milenio in Spanish Mexico City BC cambiara el periodo para gobernar en 2019 BC to change the term for governor in 2019 Diario de Mexico in Spanish June 10 2018 Retrieved July 19 2019 Peschard Jacqueline Selee Andrew May 1 2010 Mexico s Democratic Challenges Politics Government and Society 1 ed Stanford University Press ISBN 9780804771610 a b City Associated Press in Mexico 2 December 2012 Enrique Pena Nieto takes office as Mexico s president the Guardian https fas org sgp crs row IF10867 pdf bare URL PDF Who is Mexico s Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador BBC News 29 November 2018 Digital Tiempo La Noticia Asi quedan las 32 gubernaturas tras las elecciones MAPA tiempo com mx in European Spanish Retrieved 2021 12 24 a b S Migdal Joel 1988 Strong societies and weak states state society relations and state capabilities in the third world Princeton University press ISBN 9780691010731 OCLC 876100982 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Using the phrase of Schedler A 2004 From Electoral Authoritarianism to Democratic Consolidation inMexico s Democracy at Work Crandall R Paz G Roett R editors Lyenne Reinner Publisher Colorado USA Clark William Roberts Matt Golder and Sona N Golder 2013 Power and politics insights from an exit voice and loyalty game Unpublished manuscript University of Michigan and Pennsylvania State University Beatriz Magaloni 2008 Voting for autocracy hegemonic party survival and its demise in Mexico Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0521736596 OCLC 772633021 McKinley James C Jr Thompson Ginger 6 July 2006 Calderon Wins Narrow Victory in Mexico Election The New York Times Mexico s Lopez Obrador sworn in as first leftist president in decades BBC News 2 December 2018 Karol Suarez Rafael Romo and Joshua Berlinger Mexico s President loses grip on power in midterm elections marred by violence CNN Further reading editBruhn Kathleen Taking on Goliath Penn State University Press 2004 ISBN 978 0271025117External links editPresidency of the United Mexican States Chamber of Deputies Senate of the Republic Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation Mexican Council for Economic and Social Development Mexico Development Gateway Official Youtube page Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Politics of Mexico amp oldid 1200801715, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.