Administrative divisions: 31 states (estados, singular—estado) and
1 federal district* (distrito federal); Aguascalientes, Baja California Norte,
Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Colima,
Distrito Federal*, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico,
Michoacan, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro,
Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala,
Veracruz, Yucatan, Zacatecas
Independence: 16 September 1810 (from Spain)
Constitution: 5 February 1917
Legal system: mixture of US constitutional theory and civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
National holiday: Independence Day, 16 September (1810)
Executive branch: president, Cabinet
Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress (Congreso de la Union) consists of an upper chamber or Senate (Camara de Senadores) and a lower chamber or Chamber of Deputies (Camara de Diputados)
Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice (Suprema Corte de Justicia)
Leaders:
Chief of State and Head of Government—President Carlos SALINAS de
Gortari (since 1 December 1988)
Political parties and leaders: (recognized parties) Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI), Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta; National Action
Party (PAN), Luis Alvarez; Popular Socialist Party (PPS), Indalecio Sayago
Herrera; Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), Cuauhtemoc Cardenas;
Cardenist Front for the National Reconstruction Party (PFCRN), Rafael
Aguilar Talamantes; Authentic Party of the Mexican Revolution (PARM),
Carlos Enrique Cantu Rosas