The Electoral System of Mexico

Mexico operates as a federal republic with an electoral system meticulously defined by the Constitution of Mexico and the constitutions of its 32 federative entities. These constitutions delineate the separation of powers into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. Citizens elect the heads of the executive and members of the legislature.

Historical Context and Evolution

Before 2000, Mexico had a system of one-party dominance under the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and some smaller opposition parties. The former opposition parties had specific social bases that, on their own, would not have catapulted either opposition party into power. In the 1990s, specific regional bases of support developed for the parties, reflecting their efforts to develop their organizations more locally. Nationally, this led to the emergence of two parallel two-party systems: PAN-PRI competition in the north and center-west, and PRD-PRI competition in the south. In parallel, a proregime-antiregime cleavage came to dominate the Mexican party system, which, combined with local-level opposition efforts to oust the PRI, created new incentives for the opposition parties to abandon past emphases on ideological differences and to act like catch-all parties instead. The regime cleavage fostered the dealignment of the Mexican electorate, a process that promoted the development of catch-all parties. Movement within the parties to behave like catch-all parties has not come without internal tensions, but electoral dynamics prove powerful inducements to catch-all behavior.

Key Features of the Electoral System

Suffrage and Eligibility

Mexican citizens over 18 are eligible to vote in all Mexican elections. Elections in Mexico are held for officials at federal, state, and municipal levels.

Branches of Government and Elections

The heads of the executive and all members of the legislature are open to election by the citizens. Officials of the judiciary were previously not open to election until the approval of the judicial reform. The heads of government executive bodies are commonly directly elected by popular vote for a six-year term. Terms of elected executives are non-renewable, and seeking to be reelected is forbidden by the Constitution. The members of the legislatures are commonly directly elected by popular vote for a three-year (federal and local deputies) or a six-year (senators) term. There are usually term limits placed on legislative members (12 years at the federal level, not eligible for immediate re-election starting in 2030). All legislative elections have mixed electoral systems. The votes are counted toward candidates and political parties through one-ballot mixed single or two-ballot parallel voting. Mexico has a multi-party system with three dominant political parties. Alliances and coalitions are common.

Federal Elections

At the federal level, the nation's head of state, the president, is directly elected with the popular vote by all Mexican citizens for a six-year non-renewable term. All members of the bicameral federal legislature, the Congress of the Union, are also elected by all Mexican citizens. Under the current Mexican electoral system, the president of Mexico is directly elected for a six-year non-renewable term. The 128 senators are elected for a six-year term. The 500 deputies are elected for a three-year term. The elections are synchronized so that Mexican citizens elect the president, senators, and deputies at once every six years. A midterm election for deputies will occur at the midpoint of the six-year term. The last general election for president, the Senate, and the Chamber of Deputies was held on June 2, 2024.

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The President

The president of Mexico is elected for a six-year term by direct election of all Mexican citizens. The candidate who wins a plurality of votes is elected president. No president can serve more than a single term in office. Candidates for president must be at least 35 years old. They must be Mexican citizens by birth, as must one of their parents. They must have been residents of Mexico for at least 20 years.

The Chamber of Deputies

The Chamber of Deputies has 500 deputies. Three hundred uninominal deputies are elected by candidate votes in single-seat federal electoral districts using the first-past-the-post method. Two hundred plurinominal deputies are elected by party-list votes in five 40-seat electoral regions using proportional representation. To be eligible to place candidates in the multi-seat districts, a party must have candidates in at least 200 of the 300 single-seat districts and must win at least 3% of the vote in those elections. The 200 proportional representation seats are distributed based on the percentage of the total national votes earned by each party without considering the 300 plurality seats (parallel voting). However, since 1996, a party cannot get more seats than 8% above its national result (i.e., to win 50% of the legislative seats, a party must win at least 42% of the vote nationwide). Candidates for the Chamber of Deputies must be registered voters at least 18 years old.

The Senate

The Senate of the Republic has 128 senators. Ninety-six senators are elected from the 32 federative entities. Candidates for the Senate must be registered voters at least 25 years old.

State and Municipal Elections

At the state level, each state has an elective governor and unicameral congress. At the municipal level, the municipal presidents are also elected by their citizens. Since 2016, a constitutional amendment has designated Mexico City to be a fully autonomous entity on par with the states.

Mexico has 32 federative entities, including 31 states and Mexico City. The leader of a federative entity is officially named governor for a Mexican state and head of government for Mexico City. Each federative entity has a unicameral legislature officially named Congress. Members of the congresses are called deputies. All seats of the Congress are elected to three-year terms in a mixed electoral system. For example, there are 75 seats in the Congress of the State of México. Forty-five seats are apportioned in direct elections in single-member districts, and 30 are apportioned via proportional appointments. Political parties nominate their candidates for proportional appointments before the election.

Under the current administrative divisions of Mexico, states are divided into municipalities, and Mexico City is divided into boroughs. The autonomy of these divisions is protected by the Constitution of Mexico. Leaders of these divisions, called municipal presidents or borough mayors, are directly elected for a three-year once-renewable term (non-consecutive starting in 2030).

Recent Developments and Controversies

2024 Judicial Reform

A constitutional change replacing half of the federal judiciary with judges elected by popular vote has undermined judicial independence in Mexico. The new judges, including six of the Supreme Court’s nine members, are set to take office on September 1, 2025, following a popular election carried out on June 1. In September 2024, congressmen and senators from the political coalition led by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo approved a constitutional change eliminating judicial tenure and establishing that judges would be elected periodically.

Under the new framework, judicial elections are to be held in each judicial district, from candidates drawn from lists defined by three different evaluation committees appointed by the president, the Senate, and the Supreme Court. The process to select candidates for the judicial elections in June was marked by multiple flaws and irregularities. In January, the Evaluation Committee of the Federal Judiciary appointed by the Federal Judiciary resigned following a court order to suspend its work. The Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary then transferred its power to shortlist candidates to the Senate. In practice, that meant that all the candidates were shortlisted by selection committees in the executive branch and the Senate, where the ruling party, Morena, and its allies have a two-thirds majority.

The constitutional change established vague criteria to shortlist candidates, such as honesty, reputation, and competence. It provided that the evaluation committees should choose the candidates on the basis of a short motivation letter and five “reference letters” from “neighbors, colleagues or other people.” The evaluation committees did not approve bylaws to clarify how they would assess candidates and determine whether they were fit to serve as judges or to ensure that the committees are using similar criteria. The evaluation committees also had to shortlist the candidates on a very short timeline. They will join three others who had been appointed by former President López Obrador. The OAS observers found that the six elected members had been included in “cheat sheets” that unspecified actors distributed physically and online to urge people to vote for a particular slate of candidates.

The constitutional change and subsequent implementing legislation also created a Judicial Discipline Tribunal with broad powers to sanction and remove judges from office. The five members of the tribunal, who were also popularly elected, are empowered to sanction judges if they “rule, in a clear way, against the constitution, applicable law, or the interpretation established in the case-law,” “decide against the facts of the case,” or transgress other criteria. Under international standards, judges should have guaranteed tenure and be protected from political influence to ensure that they can make decisions based solely on the facts of the case and in accordance with the law.

While half of the Federal Judiciary will take office on September 1, the other half is set to be elected in 2027.

Party System Dynamics

Nationally, this led to the emergence of two parallel two-party systems, PAN-PRI competition in the north and center-west and PRD-PRI competition in the south. In parallel, a proregime-antiregime cleavage came to dominate the Mexican party system, which, combined with local-level opposition efforts to oust the PRI, created new incentives for the opposition parties to abandon past emphases on ideological differences and to act like catch-all parties instead. The regime cleavage fostered the dealignment of the Mexican electorate, a process that promoted the development of catch-all parties. Movement within the parties to behave like catch-all parties has not come without internal tensions, but electoral dynamics prove powerful inducements to catch-all behavior.

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