Mexico » Politics

Politics of Mexico takes place in a framework of a federal presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Mexico is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the Congress of the Union. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

The 1917 Constitution of Mexico provides for a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Historically, the executive is the dominant branch, with power vested in the president, who promulgates and executes the laws of the Congress. Congress has played an increasingly important role since 1997 when opposition parties first formed a majority in the legislature. 

A number of elections on the federal and local level are scheduled to take place in Mexico during 2006. A general election was held in Mexico on Sunday, 2 July 2006. Voters went to the polls to elect, on the federal level. 

A new President of the Republic to serve a six-year term, replacing Vicente Fox (In Mexico, The President cannot run for re-election).500 members (300 by the first-past-the-post system and 200 by proportional representation) to serve for a three-year term in the Chamber of Deputies. 

128 members (three per state by first-past-the-post and 32 by proportional representation from national party lists) to serve six-year terms in the Senate. In each state, two first-past-the-post seats are allocated to the party with the largest share of the vote, and the remaining seat is given to the first runner-up.