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 Felipe de Jesus CALDERON Hinojosa (since
1 December 2006); note - the president is both the chief of state
and head of government
head of government: President Felipe de Jesus CALDERON Hinojosa
(since 1 December 2006)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president; note - appointment of
attorney general requires consent of the Senate
elections: president elected by popular vote for a single six-year
term; election last held 2 July 2006 (next to be held 1 July 2012)
election results: Felipe CALDERON elected president; percent of vote
- Felipe CALDERON (PAN) 35.89%, Andres Manuel Lopez OBRADOR (PRD)
35.31%, Roberto MADRAZO (PRI) 22.26%, other 6.54%
Legislative branch:
bicameral National Congress or Congreso de la Union consists of the
Senate or Camara de Senadores (128 seats; 96 are elected by popular
vote to serve six-year terms, and 32 are allocated on the basis of
each party's popular vote) and the Federal Chamber of Deputies or
Camara Federal de Diputados (500 seats; 300 members are directly
elected by popular vote to serve three-year terms; remaining 200
members are allocated on the basis of each party's popular vote,
also for three-year terms)
elections: Senate - last held 2 July 2006 for all of the seats (next
to be held 1 July 2012); Chamber of Deputies - last held 2 July 2006
(next to be held 5 July 2009)
election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by
party - PAN 52, PRI 33, PRD 29, PVEM 6, CD 5, PT 2, PNA 1; Chamber
of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - PAN
206, PRD 127, PRI 103, PVEM 18, CD 17, PT 16, other 13
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court of Justice or Suprema Corte de Justicia Nacional
(justices or ministros are appointed by the president with consent
of the Senate)
Political parties and leaders:
Convergence for Democracy or CD [Luis MALDONADO Venegas];
Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI [Mariano PALACIOS Alcocer];
Labor Party or PT [Alberto ANAYA Gutierrez]; Mexican Green
Ecological Party or PVEM [Jorge Emilio GONZALEZ Martinez]; National
Action Party (Partido Accion Nacional) or PAN [Manuel ESPINO
Barrientos]; New Alliance Party (Partido Nueva Alianza) or PNA
[Miguel Angel JIMENEZ Godinez]; Party of the Democratic Revolution
(Partido de la Revolucion Democratica) or PRD [Leonel COTA Montano];
Social Democratic and Peasant Alternative Party (Partido Alternativa
Socialdemocrata y Campesina) or Alternativa [Alberto BEGNE Guerra]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
Broad Progressive Front or FAP; Businessman's Coordinating Council
or CCE; Confederation of Employers of the Mexican Republic or
COPARMEX; Confederation of Industrial Chambers or CONCAMIN;
Confederation of Mexican Workers or CTM; Confederation of National
Chambers of Commerce or CONCANACO; Coordinator for Foreign Trade
Business Organizations or COECE; Federation of Unions Providing
Goods and Services or FESEBES; National Chamber of Transformation
Industries or CANACINTRA; National Peasant Confederation or CNC;
National Small Business Chamber or CANACOPE; National Syndicate of
Education Workers or SNTE; National Union of Workers or UNT; Popular
Assembly of the People of Oaxaca or APPO; Roman Catholic Church
International organization participation:
APEC, BCIE, BIS, CAN (observer), CDB, CE (observer), CSN
(observer), EBRD, FAO, G-3, G-6, G-15, G-24, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO,
ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO,
Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, ITUC, LAES, LAIA, NAFTA, NAM
(observer), NEA, OAS, OECD, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD,
UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNMOVIC, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU,
WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO