Independence: 16 September 1810 (from Spain)
National holiday: Independence Day, 16 September (1810)
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
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory (but not enforced)
Executive branch: chief of state: President Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (since 1 December 1994); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government head of government : President Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (since 1 December 1994); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term; election last held 21 August 1994 (next to be held NA 2000) election results: Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon elected president; percent of vote - Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (PRI) 50.18%, Cuauhtemoc CARDENAS Solorzano (PRD) 17.08%, Diego FERNANDEZ DE CEVALLOS (PAN) 26.69%, other 6.049%
Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress or Congreso de la Union consists of the Senate or Camara de Senadores (128 seats, expanded from 64 seats at the last election; members are elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms) and the Chamber of Deputies or Camara de Diputados (500 seats; members are directly elected by popular vote to serve three-year terms) elections: Senate - last held 21 August 1994 (next to be held 6 July 1997 for one-quarter of the seats); Chamber of Deputies - last held 24 August 1994 (next to be held 6 July 1997) election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party in expanded Senate - PRI 93, PRD 25, PAN 10; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - PRI 300, PAN 119, PRD 71, PT 10
Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia), judges are appointed by the president with consent of the Senate
Political parties and leaders: (recognized parties) Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI), Humberto ROQUE Villanueva; National Action
Party (PAN), Felipe CALDERON Hinojosa; Popular Socialist Party (PPS),
Indalecio SAYAGO Herrera; Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), Andres
Manuel LOPEZ Obrador; Cardenist Front for the National Reconstruction
Party (PFCRN), Rafael AGUILAR Talamantes; Democratic Forum Party
(PFD), Pablo Emilio MADERO; Mexican Green Ecologist Party (PVEM),
Jorge GONZALEZ Torres; Workers Party (PT), Alberto ANYA Gutierrez
Political pressure groups and leaders: Roman Catholic Church;
Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM); Confederation of Industrial
Chambers (CONCAMIN); Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce
(CONCANACO); National Peasant Confederation (CNC); Revolutionary
Workers Party (PRT); Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and
Peasants (CROC); Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers (CROM);
Confederation of Employers of the Mexican Republic (COPARMEX);
National Chamber of Transformation Industries (CANACINTRA);
Coordinator for Foreign Trade Business Organizations (COECE);
Federation of Unions Providing Goods and Services (FESEBES)