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Politics of Mexico
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Politics of Mexico
The politics of Mexico function within the framework of the 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. It is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial, established by the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, published in 1917. The constituent states of the federation must also have a republican government based on a congressional system established by their respective constitutions.
Executive power is exercised by the executive branch, headed by the President, who is advised by a cabinet of secretaries independent of the legislature. Legislative power is vested in 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.
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. The following regime can be considered a semi-authoritarian political model (or hybrid regime). In 1920, a successful general in the Revolution named Alvaro Obregón overthrew the temporary government of the revolutionary leader Venustiano Carranza, which resulted in his election as the President of Mexico. He was then replaced by Plutarco Elías Calles, who ruled Mexico from 1924 to 1928. After a rule change that prevented two mandates by the same person, Obregón returned to power in 1928 but was assassinated shortly after. As a result, outgoing 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. The period from 1920–1934 in Mexico was marked by a strong presence of military in government and a failure to implement revolutionary reforms.
Under President Lázaro Cárdenas (1934–40), the party transformed into 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 division, with power centralized. The PRM aimed to mediate conflicts between competing sectors within the party, becoming an extension of the Mexican state. In 1946, the party was transformed into the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and the army was no longer a sector. During this time, the government nationalized key industries, such as oil, and implemented land reforms that redistributed property to peasants.
Mexico experienced political tension and rising economic instability throughout the second decade of the twentieth century. 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. However, the year 1982 gave way to market restructuring policies and gradual political reforms that prompted the democratic transition of Mexico (1982–2012). The first efforts to introduce free and fair elections came with President Miguel de la Madrid in 1983. Still, the attempt was unsuccessful, as he was opposed by politicians in his party.
The 1988 elections, won by Carlos Salinas de Gortari against Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas (son of former President Lázaro Cárdenas), were regarded as "the most fraudulent in Mexico's history.” In 1989, politicians of the PRI who rejected Salinas's pro-market reforms formed the Party of the Democratic Revolution. 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 to ensure free and fair elections and build public confidence in the process.
Constitutionally, political parties in Mexico must promote the participation of the people in the democratic life of the country, contribute to 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. 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 3% of votes in the federal elections to keep their registry. Registered political parties receive public funding for their operation and can also get private funding within the limits prescribed by the law. As of 2025, the following political parties are registered with the INE, and all have representatives in the Congress of the Union:
Political parties can form alliances or coalitions to nominate candidates for any particular election. The coalition must identify itself with a specific name and logo. Proportional representation (plurinominal) seats are assigned to it based on the percentage of votes obtained in the elections. Then, it 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.
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Politics of Mexico
The politics of Mexico function within the framework of the 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. It is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial, established by the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, published in 1917. The constituent states of the federation must also have a republican government based on a congressional system established by their respective constitutions.
Executive power is exercised by the executive branch, headed by the President, who is advised by a cabinet of secretaries independent of the legislature. Legislative power is vested in 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.
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. The following regime can be considered a semi-authoritarian political model (or hybrid regime). In 1920, a successful general in the Revolution named Alvaro Obregón overthrew the temporary government of the revolutionary leader Venustiano Carranza, which resulted in his election as the President of Mexico. He was then replaced by Plutarco Elías Calles, who ruled Mexico from 1924 to 1928. After a rule change that prevented two mandates by the same person, Obregón returned to power in 1928 but was assassinated shortly after. As a result, outgoing 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. The period from 1920–1934 in Mexico was marked by a strong presence of military in government and a failure to implement revolutionary reforms.
Under President Lázaro Cárdenas (1934–40), the party transformed into 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 division, with power centralized. The PRM aimed to mediate conflicts between competing sectors within the party, becoming an extension of the Mexican state. In 1946, the party was transformed into the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and the army was no longer a sector. During this time, the government nationalized key industries, such as oil, and implemented land reforms that redistributed property to peasants.
Mexico experienced political tension and rising economic instability throughout the second decade of the twentieth century. 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. However, the year 1982 gave way to market restructuring policies and gradual political reforms that prompted the democratic transition of Mexico (1982–2012). The first efforts to introduce free and fair elections came with President Miguel de la Madrid in 1983. Still, the attempt was unsuccessful, as he was opposed by politicians in his party.
The 1988 elections, won by Carlos Salinas de Gortari against Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas (son of former President Lázaro Cárdenas), were regarded as "the most fraudulent in Mexico's history.” In 1989, politicians of the PRI who rejected Salinas's pro-market reforms formed the Party of the Democratic Revolution. 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 to ensure free and fair elections and build public confidence in the process.
Constitutionally, political parties in Mexico must promote the participation of the people in the democratic life of the country, contribute to 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. 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 3% of votes in the federal elections to keep their registry. Registered political parties receive public funding for their operation and can also get private funding within the limits prescribed by the law. As of 2025, the following political parties are registered with the INE, and all have representatives in the Congress of the Union:
Political parties can form alliances or coalitions to nominate candidates for any particular election. The coalition must identify itself with a specific name and logo. Proportional representation (plurinominal) seats are assigned to it based on the percentage of votes obtained in the elections. Then, it 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.
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