IFES Election Guide - Country Profile: Mexico

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Legislative
July 2015

Mexico
United Mexican States
Region: Americas

Description of government structure:

Chief of State: President Enrique Pena NIETO *
Head of Government: President Enrique Pena NIETO
Assembly: Mexico has a bicameral National Congress (Congreso de la Union) consisting of the Senate (Camara de Senadores) with 128 seats and the Chamber of Deputies (Camara de Diputados) with 500 seats.

* The president is both the chief of state and head of government.

Description of electoral system:

The President is elected by plurality vote to serve a 6-year term.
In the Senate (Camara de Senadores), 96 members are elected by plurality vote in multi-member constituencies to serve 6-year terms and 32 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 6-year terms*. In the Chamber of Deputies (Camara de Diputados), 300 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 3-year terms and 200 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 3-year terms.**

* The voter votes at the state level. 96 Senators are elected from closed party lists in 32 districts of three seats, each corresponding to a state. The top vote-getting list wins two seats. The next-placed list wins one. Parties may nominate two candidates in any given district. 32 more Senators are elected from closed, nation-wide party lists. National vote shares are determined by summing state-level results. The threshold in this tier is two percent.

** The voter casts one vote at the single-member district level. PR seats are allocated from closed lists in five multi-member districts of 40 seats each in order to make each party's seat share proportional to its vote share at the MMD level. No party may seat more than 300 deputies. No party's seat share may be more than eight percent in excess of its vote share. This rule does not hold, however, if the disproportion results in the single-member district tier. A party may not contest seats in the proportional tier unless it registers candidates in at least 200 single-member constituencies. The threshold in the proportional tier is two percent.