History of democracy in Mexico
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The history of democracy in Mexico dates to the establishment of the federal republic of Mexico in 1824. After a long history under the
Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
(1521–1821), Mexico gained its independence in 1821 and became the
First Mexican Empire The Mexican Empire ( es, Imperio Mexicano, ) was a constitutional monarchy, the first independent government of Mexico and the only former colony of the Spanish Empire to establish a monarchy after independence. It is one of the few modern-era, ...
led by royalist military officer
Agustín de Iturbide Agustín de Iturbide (; 27 September 178319 July 1824), full name Agustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Arámburu and also known as Agustín of Mexico, was a Mexican army general and politician. During the Mexican War of Independence, he built a ...
. Three years later, a federal republic was created under the
Constitution of 1824 The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1824 ( es, Constitución Federal de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos de 1824) was enacted on October 4 of 1824, after the overthrow of the Mexican Empire of Agustin de Iturbide. In the new Fr ...
. However, the republic was truncated by a series of military coups, most notably that of politician-general
Antonio López de Santa Anna Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón (; 21 February 1794 – 21 June 1876),Callcott, Wilfred H., "Santa Anna, Antonio Lopez De,''Handbook of Texas Online'' Retrieved 18 April 2017. usually known as Santa Ann ...
. Santa Anna held immense sway over the fledgling Mexican democracy until 1855, when he was ousted by liberal politicians. The liberals drafted and ratified the
Constitution of 1857 The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857 ( es, Constitución Federal de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos de 1857), often called simply the Constitution of 1857, was the liberal constitution promulgated in 1857 by Constituent Cong ...
, which enshrined rights such as universal male suffrage and eliminated Church and army privileges. The overthrow of Santa Anna, however, led to widespread dissatisfaction among conservative Mexicans and led to a twenty-two-year conflict and two wars between conservatives and liberals. In 1862, on the invitation of Mexican conservatives, Maximilian Habsburg was crowned
Emperor of Mexico The Emperor of Mexico (Spanish: ''Emperador de México'') was the head of state and ruler of Mexico on two non-consecutive occasions in the 19th century. With the Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire from Spain in 1821, Mexico bec ...
after a successful French invasion of the country. From 1876 to 1911, regular elections were held, but the electorate remained politically unengaged. This era was known as the ''
Porfiriato , common_languages = , religion = , demonym = , currency = , leader1 = Porfirio Díaz , leader2 = Juan Méndez , leader3 = Porfirio Díaz , leader4 ...
–'' the presidency of
Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...
, who ascended to power a via military coup in 1876 and held power directly and indirectly until 1910. As resentment of Diaz increased, the
Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...
broke out in 1910 and caused a clean and friendly civil war, which ended with the creation of the new Constitution after its ratification on the 5th of February, 1917. Mexican politics were then dominated by the secular Constitutionalists, who had won the ensuing civil war. Regular elections were held, but results were often manipulated. Though the "anti-re-electionist principle" still stood, mandating that incumbent presidents could not be re-elected, presidents often nominated their successors. The result was that the ruling
Institutional Revolutionary Party The Institutional Revolutionary Party ( es, Partido Revolucionario Institucional, ; abbr. PRI) is a political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 and held uninterrupted power in the country for 71 years, from 1929 to 2000, first as the Nati ...
(PRI) held near-complete control over the electoral mechanism, essentially turning Mexico into a one-party state until 1988, when its left-wing factions broke off. Women's suffrage was introduced in 1953. Mexican politics saw change in 2000 when the conservative opposition National Action Party (PAN) candidate
Vicente Fox Vicente Fox Quesada (; born 2 July 1942) is a Mexican businessman and politician who served as the 62nd president of Mexico from 1 December 2000 to 30 November 2006. After campaigning as a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist, Fox was elec ...
won the presidential election. He was succeeded by the next candidate of PAN,
Felipe Calderón Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 1 December 2006 to 30 November 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 a ...
, in 2006. The PRI returned to power in 2012, after
Enrique Peña Nieto Enrique Peña Nieto (; born 20 July 1966), commonly referred to by his initials EPN, is a Mexican politician who served as the 64th president of Mexico from 1 December 2012 to 30 November 2018. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party ...
won presidency, but were defeated by Andrés Manuel López Obrador's new
National Regeneration Movement MORENA () is a major Mexican left-wing political party. It is described as an anti-neoliberal and populist party. It is the ruling party of Mexico since 2018. The name is an acronym for the Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (National Regener ...
(MORENA) coalition in 2018. López Obrador was the first left-wing president in Mexico for seven decades.


Colonial government: 1521–1808

As an overseas territory of the
Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
, colonial Mexico was a component of Spain's absolute monarchy and was overseen by the
Council of the Indies The Council of the Indies ( es, Consejo de las Indias), officially the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies ( es, Real y Supremo Consejo de las Indias, link=no, ), was the most important administrative organ of the Spanish Empire for the Amer ...
. Its officials were appointed royal officials with broad legal powers. They could draft laws ordinances and decrees, exercise judicial review, act as the Supreme Court for colony-initiated cases, supervise indigenous people, censor printed reports, oversee the colonial treasury, and organize local government inspections. The council also approved all of the colonies' civil, military and religious appointees, leaving a small number of positions to be selected by the colonists themselves. The
Viceroyalty of New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Amer ...
was the jurisdiction for crown rule in what is now Mexico. The
viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...
was the highest crown official selected by the
Spanish king , coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg , coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain , image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg , incumbent = Felipe VI , incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...
to be the "king's living image" and personal representative. He functioned as the chief executive, supervised the military, and acted as the president of the administrative court of the colony. The viceroy also nominated minor officials and distributed land and titles, all subject to the approval of the Council of the Indies and, ultimately, the Spanish monarch. The ''
Real Audiencia A ''Real Audiencia'' (), or simply an ''Audiencia'' ( ca, Reial Audiència, Audiència Reial, or Audiència), was an appellate court in Spain and its empire. The name of the institution literally translates as Royal Audience. The additional des ...
'', the high court located in Spain, administered royal justice. During the early era of colonization, governors overseeing the smaller jurisdictions of the audiencia were appointed by the viceroy, but the crown incrementally took over the appointment of these designations. Governors were not re-appointed consecutively to oversee the same district. Indigenous villages were overseen by a ''
corregidor Corregidor ( tl, Pulo ng Corregidor, ) is an island located at the entrance of Manila Bay in the southwestern part of Luzon in the Philippines, and is considered part of the Province of Cavite. Due to this location, Corregidor has historically b ...
'', while ''
alcalde Alcalde (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian '' cabildo'' (the municipal council) a ...
'' mayors oversaw European settlements. Each town included a surrounding district of settled area, governed by a council ('' cabildo'') of five to fifteen men, typically wealthy ''
criollos In Hispanic America, criollo () is a term used originally to describe people of Spanish descent born in the colonies. In different Latin American countries the word has come to have different meanings, sometimes referring to the local-born majo ...
''. The council annually elected a chief magistrate and selected the constable, standard-bearer, inspector of weights and measures, and the collector of fines. Spaniards, both European- and American-born, held the dominant bureaucratic and social positions. Everyone was deemed a subject of the crown but not necessarily a citizen of the empire. The crown held authority, but there was no equality before the law. Different races and statuses conferred particular rights or obligations. Indigenous persons were members of the Republic of Indians (''República de Indios''), while all others—Spaniards, mixed-race
castas () is a term which means "lineage" in Spanish and Portuguese and has historically been used as a racial and social identifier. In the context of the Spanish Empire in the Americas it also refers to a now-discredited 20th-century theoretical f ...
, and
Afro-Mexicans Afro-Mexicans ( es, afromexicanos), also known as Black Mexicans ( es, mexicanos negros), are Mexicans who have heritage from sub-Saharan Africa and identify as such. As a single population, Afro-Mexicans include individuals descended from both ...
—were members of the Republic of Spaniards (''República de Españoles''). There were separate courts under the jurisdiction of the Catholic church for the members of the clergy and the
Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...
to ensure religious orthodoxy and practice. The military, established in the late eighteenth century, held special privileges (''fuero militar''), which was extended to non-white members. The crown gave privileges to elite corporate groups of silver mine owners and high-level merchants, creating ''
consulado The ''Consulado de mercaderes'' was the merchant guild of Seville founded in 1543; the Consulado enjoyed virtual monopoly rights over goods shipped to America, in a regular and closely controlled West Indies Fleet, and handled much of the silve ...
s''. There was a separate General Indian Court with jurisdiction over disputes of individuals and indigenous communities. Indians were also excluded from Catholic courts and from military service as they were deemed legal minors. With the eighteenth-century
Bourbon Reforms The Bourbon Reforms ( es, Reformas Borbónicas) consisted of political and economic changes promulgated by the Spanish Crown under various kings of the House of Bourbon, since 1700, mainly in the 18th century. The beginning of the new Crown's po ...
in
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...
, which created 12 intendancies and weakened the power of the
viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...
, the ''
ayuntamiento ''Ayuntamiento'' ()In other languages of Spain: * ca, ajuntament (). * gl, concello (). * eu, udaletxea (). is the general term for the town council, or ''cabildo'', of a municipality or, sometimes, as is often the case in Spain and Latin Amer ...
s'' (municipal councils) "became the institution representing the interests of the local and regional oligarchical groups then setting deep roots into their territories." These municipal councils were to become extremely important in the independence era following the 1808 French invasion of Spain. Indigenous political participation in the colonial era was found at the local level in indigenous communities. The crown's designation of indigenous communities as "republics" was a practical one at conquest, allowing indigenous communities to maintain their existing political processes and social hierarchies, which were used to incorporate the indigenous peaceably into the empire. Indigenous elites (''principales'') in their communities were the interface with the Spanish colonial government. Indigenous city-states (Nahuatl: ''
altepetl The (, plural ''altepeme'' or ''altepemeh'') was the local, ethnically-based political entity, usually translated into English as "city-state," of pre-Columbian Nahuatl-speaking societiesSmith 1997 p. 37 in the Americas. The ''altepetl'' was co ...
''; Mayan: '' Cah''; Mixtec: '' Ñnu'') became ''pueblos'' and their ruling structures outwardly conformed to Spanish models of municipal government, the ''cabildo'' or ''
ayuntamiento ''Ayuntamiento'' ()In other languages of Spain: * ca, ajuntament (). * gl, concello (). * eu, udaletxea (). is the general term for the town council, or ''cabildo'', of a municipality or, sometimes, as is often the case in Spain and Latin Amer ...
'' (municipal council). These municipal councils became the bulwark of indigenous communities' defense of their interests, petitioning the crown over grievances and litigating in court. The cabildo also became the instrument of Spanish colonial rule in their communities, collecting taxes and mobilizing labor. The seat of the cabildo was in the head town (''cabecera'') with jurisdiction over subject communities (''sujetos''). Subject communities increasingly sought autonomy from the head towns to manage their own affairs. Even where only indigenous elites participated in elections to the town council, "elections depended on forging of a local consensus if indigenous councils were to rule with legitimacy." Historian Antonio Annino argues that these autonomous ''pueblos'' were key in the history of liberal citizenship in Mexico. When communities petitioned royal or ecclesiastical officials for the redress of wrongs through peaceful means, those feeling wronged could and sometimes did resort to violence. Local rebellions in Indian communities were a feature of the colonial period, which were usually short-lived and did not spread to neighboring communities. There were two major riots in
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
during the colonial era. The riot of 1624 saw the American-born elites mobilizing the urban poor to riot against the new, reformist viceroy, Marqués de Gelves, who sought to bring an end to corrupt practices of royal officials, as well as targeting freedoms enjoyed by the mixed-race population. A riot broke out in the main square of Mexico City, the
Zócalo The Zócalo () is the common name of the town square, main square in central Mexico City. Prior to the European colonization of the Americas, colonial period, it was the main ceremonial center in the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. The plaza used t ...
, where the palace of the viceroy was located. The rioters shouted slogans that affirmed their allegiance to the king and denounced the new viceroy. The rioters and their elite white supporters succeeded in ousting the viceroy and the crown did not attempt to impose reforms for another century. Another large-scale urban riot occurred in 1692, in which rioters partially destroyed the palace of the viceroy and looted upscale shops. The viceroy sought to restore order and reaffirm royal authority, which the rioters had challenged. He considered the riot evidence of class warfare with Spanish authority at risk.


Independence era, 1808-1821

Rule of Spain and its overseas territories by an absolute monarch was disrupted when Spain was invaded by Napoleon's armies in 1808, touching off sweeping political changes in
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...
. With the French invasion, the Spanish monarch
Charles IV of Spain , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles III of Spain , mother =Maria Amalia of Saxony , birth_date =11 November 1748 , birth_place =Palace of Portici, Portici, Naples , death_date = , death_place = ...
was forced to abdicate and Napoleon's brother
Joseph Bonaparte it, Giuseppe-Napoleone Buonaparte es, José Napoleón Bonaparte , house = Bonaparte , father = Carlo Buonaparte , mother = Letizia Ramolino , birth_date = 7 January 1768 , birth_place = Corte, Corsica, Republic of ...
was made monarch. For Spain and its overseas territories, this presented a situation that challenged the legitimacy of the monarchy.
Juntas A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...
arose in Spain and its overseas territories to claim sovereignty in the name of the legitimate Spanish monarch. In
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...
, the municipal council of Mexico City was the body where wealthy and influential American-born Spaniards held political power. It took the lead in arguing for
home rule Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...
in New Spain. Together with Viceroy
José de Iturrigaray José Joaquín Vicente de Iturrigaray y Aróstegui, Order of Santiago, KOS (27 June 1742, Cádiz, Spain – 22 August 1815, Madrid) was a Spanish military officer and viceroy of Viceroyalty of New Spain, New Spain, from 4 January 1803 to 1 ...
, autonomist councilors sought to create a junta that would rule in the place of the king. They argued that the abdication of the Spanish monarch after the French invasion rendered the previous ruling structures null and void, but the high court (''audiencia''), the leading voice of traditional rule, countered the arguments of the ''ayuntamiento'', saying that the structures had been established by the legitimate monarch and should remain in place. City councilors met from July to mid-September 1808, which were moving toward creating a convocation of representatives of the realm, which would have considered the place of New Spain within the empire. Viceroy Iturrigaray was sympathetic to these ''consulado'', all of whom were peninsular-born Spaniards, which prompted the members of the high court and the elite merchant to remove and jail the viceroy and his supporters on 15 September 1808. The violent coup radicalized the situation in New Spain. Unlike elsewhere in Spanish America, in which the ''ayuntamientos'' of the viceroyalties created juntas to rule in place of the monarch, the coup prevented Mexico City's municipal council from exercising that function. In Spain, the
Supreme Junta The Supreme Junta (or Junta Suprema de Caracas) was the institution that governed the Captaincy General of Venezuela following the forced resignation of the Captain General Vicente Emparán on April 19, 1810, marking the beginning of the Venezue ...
assembled delegates from the juntas in the constituent peninsular kingdoms. Delegates from New Spain soon joined the assembly known as the
Cortes of Cádiz The Cortes of Cádiz was a revival of the traditional ''Cortes Generales, cortes'' (Spanish parliament), which as an institution had not functioned for many years, but it met as a single body, rather than divided into estates as with previous o ...
to consider how legitimate rule could continue in the current situation. The
cortes Cortes, Cortés, Cortês, Corts, or Cortès may refer to: People * Cortes (surname), including a list of people with the name ** Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), a Spanish conquistador Places * Cortes, Navarre, a village in the South border of N ...
rejected
Melchor de Jovellanos Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (born Gaspar Melchor de Jove y Llanos, 5 January 1744 – 27 November 1811) was a Spanish neoclassical statesman, author, philosopher and a major figure of the Age of Enlightenment in Spain. Life and influence of ...
's proposal for a reversion to absolute monarchy in favor of drafting a constitution. The
Spanish Constitution of 1812 The Political Constitution of the Spanish Monarchy ( es, link=no, Constitución Política de la Monarquía Española), also known as the Constitution of Cádiz ( es, link=no, Constitución de Cádiz) and as ''La Pepa'', was the first Constituti ...
was the result. It called for a continuation the monarchy and retention of
Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
as the sole religious institution, but weakened the power of the crown by mandating a
constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...
and reduced the power of the church and nobility. The constitution incorporated principles of
classical liberalism Classical liberalism is a political tradition Political culture describes how culture impacts politics. Every political system is embedded in a particular political culture. Definition Gabriel Almond defines it as "the particular patt ...
. It affirmed
national sovereignty Westphalian sovereignty, or state sovereignty, is a principle in international law that each state has exclusive sovereignty over its territory. The principle underlies the modern international system of sovereign states and is enshrined in the Un ...
,
separation of powers Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...
,
freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic News media, media, especially publication, published materials, should be conside ...
,
free enterprise In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ...
, abolished
feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
, and established a constitutional monarchy with a
parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
. It was one of the first constitutions that allowed
universal male suffrage Universal manhood suffrage is a form of voting rights in which all adult male citizens within a political system are allowed to vote, regardless of income, property, religion, race, or any other qualification. It is sometimes summarized by the slog ...
(with the exception of those of African ancestry) through a complex indirect electoral system. There were 303 delegates to the Cortes, of which 37 were from Spain's overseas territory and seven from
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...
. The Cortes ultimately approved a distinction between nationality and citizenship—only citizens had the right to vote. The constitution granted citizenship to indigenous peoples of Spanish America, but limited the vote to men whose ancestry originated in Spain, including American-born Spaniards, known as ''criollos''. Peninsular-born Spaniards sought this limitation in order to retain control; if the total population of the overseas territories was granted the right to vote, they would have vastly outnumbered Peninsular-born Spaniards. Although indigenous populations were granted citizenship, anyone of African or mixed-race ''casta'' ancestry was excluded unless naturalized. Slaves were excluded from citizenship. Conservative ''criollos'' from New Spain agreed with these provisions since they gave them an equal voice with peninsular Spaniards and power remained in the hands of white men. In 1809, New Spain chose delegates to the Cortes of Cádiz via indirect elections. The Cortes drafted the 1812 Constitution, and, once it was promulgated, indirect elections were set for Spain and its overseas possessions. As elsewhere in the empire, officials in New Spain took an oath to obey the constitution, and the first elections in New Spain were set for 29 November 1812. For the election, New Spain was divided into the provinces of Mexico, Puebla, Valladolid, Guanajuato, Oaxaca, Veracruz, San Luis Potosí, Tlaxcala, and Querétaro. The provincial electors were to meet in the capital of each province to elect their respective deputies to the Cortes in Spain and the provincial deputation. The province of Mexico, being the most populous and home to the capital, was entitled to 14 deputies and four alternates to the Cortes. The election in Mexico City had been examined closely. Although some conservatives in the early nineteenth-century asserted the elections were unruly and that voting was irregular, with individuals voting more than once in different parishes, Nettie Lee Benson's research shows that voting was orderly and those ineligible were barred from voting. There was no literacy requirement to vote until 1830. Benson notes that the 1812 "is used as incontestable proof that the country was not prepared for a democratic form of government when it was first attempted" but instead concludes that "it would seem that the election of 1812, at least in Mexico City, was as legal and as orderly as any average election in any country." The 1812 constitution had profound consequences for the ''repúblicas de indios'' that had achieved a level of autonomy under Spanish colonial rule. The constitution recognized the members of these indigenous communities as participants in the body politic. Town councils became ''ayuntamientos'', and their prominent male heads of the household became ''vecinos'' with rights as citizens. Since the constitution empowered the elected town councils on an equal basis, there was a splintering of the old head town-subject community model, creating new autonomous indigenous communities; the number of ''cabildos'' increased from around 100 before the Cortes de Cádiz to nearly 1,000 a decade later at Mexican independence in 1821. When Napoleon was defeated and the Bourbon monarchy was re-established in 1814,
Ferdinand VII , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles IV of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Parma , birth_date = 14 October 1784 , birth_place = El Escorial, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Madrid, Spain , burial_plac ...
claimed to accept the provisions of the Constitution, but once restored to the throne, he reasserted absolute monarchy. Liberal military officers ousted the monarch in 1820 and reinstated the Constitution of 1812, during a three-year period known as the Liberal Triennium. With liberals back in power in Spain, conservatives in New Spain began to see the logic of political independence. Royal army officer
Agustín de Iturbide Agustín de Iturbide (; 27 September 178319 July 1824), full name Agustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Arámburu and also known as Agustín of Mexico, was a Mexican army general and politician. During the Mexican War of Independence, he built a ...
joined with mixed-race insurgent leader
Vicente Guerrero Vicente Ramón Guerrero (; baptized August 10, 1782 – February 14, 1831) was one of the leading revolutionary generals of the Mexican War of Independence. He fought against Spain for independence in the early 19th century, and later served as ...
and issued the
Plan of Iguala The Plan of Iguala, also known as The Plan of the Three Guarantees ("Plan Trigarante") or Act of Independence of North America, was a revolutionary proclamation promulgated on 24 February 1821, in the final stage of the Mexican War of Independenc ...
, which called for Mexican independence, recognition of Roman Catholicism as the sole religion, and the abolition of legal racial categories and distinctions between American-born and European-born Spaniards. Their
Army of the Three Guarantees At the end of the Mexican War of Independence, the Army of the Three Guarantees ( es, Ejército Trigarante or ) was the name given to the army after the unification of the Spanish troops led by Agustín de Iturbide and the Mexican insurgent troo ...
was joined by royal army members and insurgents alike, and royal rule collapsed in New Spain.


First Empire: 1821-1823

Mexico did not initially establish a democracy upon securing independence - Agustin de Iturbide manipulated the newly founded political institutions and military to establish an empire that remained intact until pressure from
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...
forced him to abdicate. After the war, the country was governed by a provisional governing junta, whose 38 delegates were all conservatives chosen by Iturbide. This council excluded two guerilla leaders,
Guadalupe Victoria Guadalupe Victoria (; 29 September 178621 March 1843), born José Miguel Ramón Adaucto Fernández y Félix, was a Mexican general and political leader who fought for independence against the Spanish Empire in the Mexican War of Independence. He ...
and
Vicente Guerrero Vicente Ramón Guerrero (; baptized August 10, 1782 – February 14, 1831) was one of the leading revolutionary generals of the Mexican War of Independence. He fought against Spain for independence in the early 19th century, and later served as ...
, who were deemed by some historians to have been essential to securing Mexico's Independence. The first thing the junta sought to do was to hold elections for a congress that would write Mexico's new constitution. To select the delegates for the Congress, town councils chose electors who then selected delegates for each province. Each province's delegation had to select one secular clergyman, one military representative, and one judge or lawyer. The nobility, mining, commercial, and industrial sectors also had reserved seats. As noted by historian Robert Miller, these regulations put the congress "in the hands of conservatives, professionals, the wealthy and the aristocracy - no seats were available to the lower classes." In other words, the interests of the masses were largely unrepresented in the congress, making the convention undemocratic in nature. In the
Constituent Congress A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...
, a handful of liberals advocated for a republic, while the conservatives sought a monarchy headed by a European prince. Iturbide's partisans tried to manipulate the constitutional debates to crown Iturbide as emperor. Though Iturbide's popularity among the delegates began to wane, Iturbide organized the military to demonstrate in his favor. After a "spontaneous demonstration" in the capital, soldiers gathered around Iturbide's house, begging him to become emperor. Iturbide went to the congress and asked for their approval, and without legal quorum, was selected as the constitutional emperor of Mexico. The army, however, contained numerous
Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
that associated with liberal civilians who championed a representative government.
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...
, thus, found support from this portion of the army and ex-revolutionary leaders and published the
Plan of Casa Mata The Plan of Casa Mata (Spanish: ''Plan de Casa Mata'') was formulated to elect a new constituent congress, which the monarchy of Agustín de Iturbide, had dissolved in 1822. The Plan of Casa Mata sought to establish a republic. In December 1822, A ...
, which called for a new congress and national representation. With mounting pressure from Santa Anna's force and from the general public, Iturbide was forced to resign.


Constitution of 1824 and early republic to 1855

The ouster of the First Empire provided an opportunity to establish a federated republic with representative democratic forms under the
Constitution of 1824 The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1824 ( es, Constitución Federal de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos de 1824) was enacted on October 4 of 1824, after the overthrow of the Mexican Empire of Agustin de Iturbide. In the new Fr ...
. Although the new constitution formalized democratic principles for the new nation-state, military officers from the era of independence became the political leaders in the young republic. Multiple coups undermined these principles. General Antonio López de Santa Anna, initially a liberal who became conservative, emerged as the military strongman (''
caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; osp, cabdillo, from Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise definition of ''caudillo'', which is often used interchangeably with " ...
'') of Mexico, dominating Mexican politics until 1855.


Second Constituent Congress

With the fall of Iturbide's monarchy, Mexican leaders began crafting a constitution, creating a federal republic. A Second Constituent Congress was formed, which represented the provinces and people of Mexico more equitably, moving away from authoritarianism and towards democratic representation. The 1824 Constitution made Mexico a federal republic with a president, vice president, a bicameral legislature, and a judiciary. In addition to the federal government, the constitution established 19 states, each of which would elect a governor and state congress.


Democracy truncated by coups

Despite promises for democracy, the era after the ratification of the Constitution of 1824 was marked by successive military coups. Only one president, General
Guadalupe Victoria Guadalupe Victoria (; 29 September 178621 March 1843), born José Miguel Ramón Adaucto Fernández y Félix, was a Mexican general and political leader who fought for independence against the Spanish Empire in the Mexican War of Independence. He ...
, remained in office for a full term over the next forty years as liberal and conservative factions fought fiercely for control of the government. According to historian Robert Miller, "Upon taking power, the new group not only changed key government personnel, it also rewrote laws and even the constitution to reflect its philosophy." During this time, liberals in Mexico continued to favor states' rights and federalism; conservatives advocated for a centralized state, not discarding the option of a dictatorship, with government positions controlled by the elite. The first two presidents elected under the Constitution of 1824 partnered with conservative vice presidents. In both instances, the conservative vice presidents fostered the loyalty of the military and used it to stage coups in a bid to remove the liberals from power. The second - led by
Anastasio Bustamante Anastasio Bustamante y Oseguera (; 27 July 1780 – 6 February 1853) was a Mexican physician, general, and politician who served as president of Mexico three times. He participated in the Mexican War of Independence initially as a royalist befo ...
- was successful. Busamante, nonetheless, was not strong enough to create the centralist regime he wanted; thus, factions emerged.
Valentín Gómez Farías Valentín Gómez Farías (; 14 February 1781 – 5 July 1858) was a Mexican physician and liberal politician who became president of Mexico twice, first in 1833, during the period of the First Mexican Republic, and again in 1846, during the ...
led an ideological campaign against Busamante in conjunction with a military campaign led by Santa Anna. After successfully ousting Bustamante, Santa Anna took over the presidency, though he left executive power primarily in the hands of Gómez Farías. Gómez Farías was removed from office by a military coup after he attempted to reduce the size of the military and curtailed the power of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1835, Congress passed a centralist constitution that replaced the states with departments whose governors would be selected by the president. Chaos ensued after a French invasion, and the congress elected in 1842 was tasked with creating a new constitution in the shadow of Santa Anna's presidency. The congressmen - mainly young liberals and federalists - produced two drafts of constitutions, neither of which fulfilled Santa Anna's desire for a centralist regime. The army thus disbanded the congress. A new committee of leading conservative landowners, clerics, army officers, and lawyers created a new centralist constitution, and, while it did not give the president absolute powers, Santa Anna approved and it was soon ratified. Santa Anna stayed in power until 1855 when increasing revolts forced him to abdicate.


Liberals and conservatives, 1857-1876

The removal of Santa Anna created a short period of democracy, truncated by renewed fighting between the liberal and conservative factions, and was then reinstated at the end of the
Reform War The Reform War, or War of Reform ( es, Guerra de Reforma), also known as the Three Years' War ( es, Guerra de los Tres Años), was a civil war in Mexico lasting from January 11, 1858 to January 11, 1861, fought between liberals and conservativ ...
. The democracy was cut short yet again by a French invasion that re-established an empire.


Liberal in-fighting and French invasion

Santa Anna's ousting prompted the creation of a new constitution based on principles of radical liberalism. The
Constitution of 1857 The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857 ( es, Constitución Federal de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos de 1857), often called simply the Constitution of 1857, was the liberal constitution promulgated in 1857 by Constituent Cong ...
incorporated Juarez and
Lerdo Law The Lerdo Law (Spanish: ''Ley Lerdo'') was the common name for the Reform law that was formally known as the Confiscation of Law and Urban Ruins of the Civil and Religious Corporations of Mexico. It targeted not only property owned by the Cathol ...
. The simultaneous election of a conservative president and the selection of a liberal president of the supreme court and the liberals' push for strong reform laws triggered the
Reform War The Reform War, or War of Reform ( es, Guerra de Reforma), also known as the Three Years' War ( es, Guerra de los Tres Años), was a civil war in Mexico lasting from January 11, 1858 to January 11, 1861, fought between liberals and conservativ ...
. The war ended with a liberal victory, and elections were held in 1867 with
Benito Juárez Benito Pablo Juárez García (; 21 March 1806 – 18 July 1872) was a Liberalism in Mexico, Mexican liberal politician and lawyer who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in office in 1872. As a Zapotec peoples, Zapo ...
as president. While the nation continued to be sharply divided between conservative and liberal factions, the next nine years saw democratic elections for both the presidency and congress. The growth of democracy was truncated by France's successful invasion of Mexico in 1862. Conservatives crowned Maximilian Hapsburg as emperor of the country, marking the nation's return to monarchy. The army which had attempted to prevent the invasion, led by Benito Juárez, started to receive US aid at the end of the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
in 1865. The same year,
Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
declared he would no longer aid Maximilian I and urged him to abdicate. Maximilian was taken prisoner by Juárez's army, along with conservative Generals
Miguel Miramón Miguel Gregorio de la Luz Atenógenes Miramón y Tarelo, known as Miguel Miramón, (29 September 1831 – 19 June 1867) was a Mexican conservative general who became president of Mexico at the age of twenty seven during the Reform War, serving b ...
and
Tomás Mejía Tomás may refer to: * Tomás (given name) * Tomás (surname) Tomás is a Spanish and Portuguese surname, equivalent of ''Thomas''. It may refer to: * Antonio Tomás (born 1985), professional Spanish footballer * Belarmino Tomás (1892–1950), ...
. All three were executed in June 1867, and Juárez was reinstated as president.


Increase of executive power

After Juarez's death,
Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada Sebastian may refer to: People * Sebastian (name), including a list of persons with the name Arts, entertainment, and media Films and television * ''Sebastian'' (1968 film), British spy film * ''Sebastian'' (1995 film), Swedish drama film ...
was elected president. Tejada did not reinforce the existing democratic structure, instead successfully proposing a motion to transform the unicameral legislature into a bicameral system. By adding the Senate to the existing Chamber of Deputies, Tejada sought to increase the executive's influence over the Congress and push for the increased centralization of power. In conjunction with his anti-clerical policies, Tejada became highly unpopular. General
Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...
was thus able to rally the support of some of his fellow generals and successfully launch a revolt.


Porfiriato: 1876-1911

Though Porfirio Díaz's coup d'état brought stability to Mexico's politics and significant economic growth in a period known as the ''Porfirato'', this stability did not equate to democracy. Porfirio's iron fist rule permitted little opposition to his regime, while his policies increased already-rampant inequality. Together, these two factors ultimately catalyzed the
Revolution of 1910 The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...
.


First term

During his first term, Diaz employed no mass repression, imprisonments or execution of his enemies, and allowed for national and local elections to be held. Nonetheless, though he had originally catapulted himself to public favor by advocating against the centralization promoted by Tejada, once in office he successfully passed an amendment which would allow an individual to run for re-election after a lapse. This allowed Diaz's friend General Manuel Gonzalez to take the presidency. Fredrich Katz argues that "Gonzalez distinguished himself by his corruption" allowing Diaz to easily win a second term.


Second term and extensions

Diaz's second term marked the "first effective and long-lasting dictatorship to emerge in Mexico since the advent of independence" through a series of anti-democratic moves. Every candidate that wished to be elected or re-elected had to obtain Diaz's approval. The dictator barred the election of any of his opponents to congress, making the institution nothing more than a rubber stamp. At Diaz's urging, the congress approved amendments that made it possible for Diaz to run for re-election if the population wished him to do so. The constitution was also amended to extend the president's terms for six years. With these reforms, Diaz was successfully re-elected in 1888, 1892, 1898, 1904, and 1910. Diaz also undertook several measures to silence his opposition during this time—he limited freedom of the press, used a reinforced military to put down dissenters and rebellions, and shifted government officials constantly to ensure they did not develop a following that could oppose him. Diaz's undemocratic actions were never challenged by academia as universities acted as a safe haven for the privileged and wealthy, who largely benefited economically under Diaz's rule.


The Creelman Interview and potential for regime change

The extended rule of Díaz seemed to likely to end in 1908, when, in the Creelman Interview, the dictator announced Mexico was ready for a democracy and that he would not seek re-election.
Francisco Madero Francisco Ignacio Madero González (; 30 October 1873 – 22 February 1913) was a Mexican businessman, revolutionary, writer and statesman, who became the 37th president of Mexico from 1911 until he was deposed in a coup d'etat in February 1 ...
, a wealthy landowner, took this opportunity to run for the presidency on an anti-re-electionist, pro-democracy platform. Madero, unlike any candidate before him, toured the entire nation advocating for his platform, creating the first modern political campaign in Mexico's history. Diaz, nonetheless, went against his word and also ran for the presidency. Shortly before the elections, Diaz ordered Madero's arrest, and on election day, Diaz won in a landslide. This outraged the vast majority of the population. Madero managed to escape from prison and published the
Plan de San Luis Potosí A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an Goal, objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a modal logic, temporal set (mathematics), set of intended actions through wh ...
, calling for people to fight to re-instill democratic principles in the nation, thus catalyzing the Mexican Revolution.


Revolutionary era: 1910-1920

The Mexican Revolution saw multiple coups by factions with different visions for the government.
Venustiano Carranza José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza (; 29 December 1859 – 21 May 1920) was a Mexican wealthy land owner and politician who was Governor of Coahuila when the constitutionally elected president Francisco I. Madero was overthrown in a February ...
gained control of all but two Mexican states. This prompted him to call for a congress of Mexico's political class, made up mostly of middle-class reformers to write a new constitution, resulting in the
Constitution of 1917 The Constitution of Mexico, formally the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States ( es, Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the current constitution of Mexico. It was drafted in Santiago de Querétaro, in th ...
. This constitution emphasized that Mexico would be a democratic state, created a bicameral congress, a six-year one-term presidency, and a judicial branch. It also established that states would each elect their own governor and congress to enact local legislation. Carranza, with little opposition, successfully ran to become the first president under this constitution. Alvaro Obregon ran to succeed Carranza, who refused to endorse him and explicitly worked to prevent his presidency. In 1920, Obregon accused Carranza of illicitly using public money to support the candidacy of
Ignacio Bonillas Ignacio Bonillas Fraijo (1 February 1858 – 23 June 1942) was a Mexican diplomat. He was a Mexican ambassador to the United States and held a degree in mine engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was tapped by Presiden ...
, his opponent, and called for Carranza to be deposed. Obregon successfully deposed Carranza, and once elections were held, he won the presidency.


Post-revolution government: 1920-1940

While the Revolution and the Constitution of 1917 established a democratic system to replace Diaz's dictatorship, coups and corruption continued in the two decades following the Revolution.


Bending rules and the establishment of the ''Maximato''

Following Obregon's presidency, Plutarco Calles was elected president. Despite the constitution's prohibition on re-election, Obregon sought a second term and convinced Calles to change the law in his favor. Obregon won a second term but was assassinated before he could take office. In a speech, Calles claimed that various politicians had begged him to run for re-election, and he honorably chose not to do so to protect Mexico's institutions and democracy. Calles, however, hand-picked the next three presidents and their cabinets, creating a series of puppet regimes that came to be known as the
Maximato The ''Maximato'' was a transitional period in the History of Mexico, historical and political development of Mexico from 1928 to 1934. Named after former president Plutarco Elías Calles's sobriquet ''el Jefe Máximo'' (the maximum leader), the ...
. In 1929, Calles established the primary political party of the country, the
Partido Nacional Revolucionario The Institutional Revolutionary Party ( es, Partido Revolucionario Institucional, ; abbr. PRI) is a List of political parties in Mexico, political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 and held uninterrupted power in the country for 71 years, ...
(the Institutional Revolutionary Party, later known as the PRI), to quell ideological disputes among revolutionaries. The Maximato ended as a result of the opportunistic actions of Lazaro Cardenas. When Calles left the country to seek medical attention in the United States, Cardenas dismissed ''Callistas'' (as Calles' supporters were known) from all political posts and exiled Calles' most powerful allies, establishing the first administration independent of Calles' rule in 12 years.


Political evolution: 1940–1960

Cárdenas ended his presidential term in 1940, choosing
Manuel Avila Camacho Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name) * Manuel (Fawlty Towers), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Charlie Manuel, manager of the Philadelphia Phillies * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manu ...
as his successor, and ensuring his presidential victory over a strong challenger. Avila Camacho was a political moderate who worked with the U.S. and the Allies during World War II. The relationship brought Mexico economic prosperity during the post-war years as foreign investment returned to Mexico. Economic stability was coupled with the cementing of the PRI's power through the regularization of its undemocratic methods. As a result of the PRI's reliance on a unified citizen elite and that elite's reliance on manipulated elections to legitimize its rule, the regime became one of the most stable and long-lasting in all of Latin America.


Electoral base and consolidation of legislative control

During the Cárdenas administration, the federal government reinforced its role as the third-party enforcer for disputes between labor unions and employers. Rather than focusing on solving labor-employer disputes, the government provided benefits and favorable policies for political loyalty with the unions. This method also secured divisions within the labor movement; but more importantly, it made the labor movement inseparable from the PRI and paved the way for the regularization of governance by consensus. Under this method, the president would individually go to each of the unions that represented the populations in the PRI coalition until a piece of legislation that appeased all parties was negotiated. The legislation was then put through congress, who had already agreed to the legislation and simply acted as a rubber stamp of approval. In exchanging benefits for political loyalty, the PRI ensured that when elections came, an ample majority would turn out in their support and generate constant victories. In addition, in 1951 the PRI oversaw the passage of an Electoral Law that defined political parties as associations with electoral aims responsible for the electorate's civic education and political orientation. The law also increased the minimum number of people required to form a political party from 30,000 to 65,000. These reforms not only guaranteed landslide victories for the PRI, such as in the presidential election of 1970 when the party won 78.9% of the vote, but, according to historian Soledad Loaeza, also underlines the role of minor political parties as integrators of the larger political system rather than a replacement or electoral challenger to the PRI establishment.


Control of the Judiciary

To ensure the dominance of the president, the PRI also took steps to ensure the Supreme Court would not function as a check on the combined power of the executive and legislative branches. The Supreme Court did not have the power of judicial review and it avoided major involvement in politically sensitive issues to eliminate the possibility of judicial constraints on unconstitutional actions. The twenty-six judges on the court were nominated by the president and approved by a simple majority in the Senate. There were relatively low prerequisites for a nominee to become a judge. According to scholar Pilar Domingo, this subordination, which lasted until a 1994 reform, reflected both the multiplicity of constitutional revisions to the judiciary and the establishment of a judicial career structure that left judges beholden to the ruling party, preventing them from being an independent branch of the government that effectively restrained the executive branch.


Emergence of the opposition and pragmatism

Cardenas also ushered in the PRI's pragmatic ideological stance. After pursuing significant efforts to redistribute land and overseeing the government appropriation of key industries, the Cardenas administration faced an economic downturn that prompted a rightward shift in public opinion. During this time, the Partido de Accion Nacional (PAN) was created from ex-Callistas who thought the government was overstepping its role in the economy and Catholics who feared the government's secular education policies would bring an end to Catholic schools. Cardenas, concerned with ensuring a PRI victory and maintaining political stability, did not allow the party to choose the next presidential candidate, opting instead to hand-pick Avila Camacho – a right-leaning politician – to run to succeed him. With an appeal to the sentiments of the majority and a weak opposition, Camacho easily won the presidency. In 1963, under President Adolfo Lopez Mateos, the PRI decided to reform electoral law to allow parties other than the PRI to have representation in Congress - if opposition parties obtained at least 2.5% of the national vote they would receive two representatives. The primary goal of this reform was to channel the energy of dissenters that had emerged from political and economic crises into opposition parties that could still be controlled by the PRI. The success of Cardenas' legislative and electoral approaches inspired the following presidents – all from the PRI – to continue the strategies of governing by consensus and choosing a successor based on political pragmatism, not ideological purity. The PRI, thus, established a soft-line authoritarian regime and a one-party dictatorship by only allowing cosmetic opposition with a hegemony so strong it would not be seriously challenged until Vicente Fox's election in 2000. The PAN, according to Soledad Loaeza, a Mexican historian, gave superficial legitimacy to the PRI's rule by taking on the role of the loyal opposition - a party whose dissenters represented a minority political opinion that challenged the dominant party but still functioned within the institutions and norms laid out by the overarching power, never challenging the constitutionality of its actions.


Protests and splintering: 1960 - 2000

Student protests for democracy right before the 1968 Mexico City Olympics ended in the
Tlatelolco Massacre On October 2, 1968 in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City, the Mexican Armed Forces opened fire on a group of unarmed civilians in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas who were protesting the upcoming 1968 Summer Olympics. The Mexican government and ...
(''Spanish: "La Matanza de Tlatelolco"''), which highlighted the public's discontent with the Mexican government. As the calls for more democracy grew, the PRI moved to secure its dominance through brutal oppression and some pro-democratic reforms. This discontent also spurred growth and strengthening among opposition parties as the PRI failed to channel political energy as effectively as before. Sensing this, the party elite guided the PRI towards pro-democratic reforms that would guarantee its dominance while giving the appearance of a move towards true democracy.


Roots of the student protests

The administration of
Gustavo Díaz Ordaz Gustavo Díaz Ordaz Bolaños (; 12 March 1911 – 15 July 1979) was a Mexican politician and member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He served as the President of Mexico from 1964 to 1970. Díaz Ordaz was born in San Andrés ...
became notorious for overseeing a significant increase in censorship, arbitrary arrests of political opponents, and extrajudicial executions. On the eve of the Olympics, 10,000 students, housewives, workers, neighborhood groups, and young professionals gathered to protest, calling for an end to police violence, the overwhelming power of the state, the lack of democracy in the nation, political arrests, and for the accountability of those responsible. The protesters were met by severe police repression, resulting in the assassination, wounding, and disappearance of thousands of students. The repression was ordered by Díaz Ordaz and orchestrated by his minister of the interior,
Luis Echeverria Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...
.


Electoral reforms under Echeverría

After being selected as Díaz Ordaz's successor, Echeverría enacted a series of pro-democratic reforms to legitimize his presidency. He incorporated the surviving leaders of the student protests into his government and lowered the voting age to 18. But more importantly, Echeverria oversaw an overhaul of electoral reform which lowered the number of members needed to officially register a new political party, increased the number of seats that would be chosen through proportional representation and lowered the minimum candidacy age—reforms that increased both the number and opportunities for opposition parties. Despite these reforms, internal fighting in the PAN resulted in
José López Portillo José Guillermo Abel López Portillo y Pacheco (; 16 June 1920 – 17 February 2004) was a Mexican writer, lawyer and politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who served as the 58th president of Mexico from 1976 t ...
, the PRI candidate, running for the presidency unopposed. The PRI during his presidency saw its legitimacy and hegemony diminished, as demonstrated by the success of opposition parties in local elections. Minor opposition parties, such as the Mexican Democratic Party, Socialist Workers' Party, Communist Left Group, Movement for Socialist Action and Unity, Mexican Workers' Party, the Revolutionary Socialist Party, and the Revolutionary Workers' Party emerged in the first half of the 1970s, reflecting the continuation of popular discontent. The 1977 electoral reforms combined with the 1982 economic downturn allowed the conservative PAN to transform into a more relevant political power. It began to win local elections more regularly, obtaining a strong hold over northern Mexico and winning the respect of the public for their pro-democratic and pro-rule of law stances. The PRI reneged on their reforms and refused to honor the victories of the PAN in more isolated districts. The PAN responded to the attempted repressions with mobilizations of their electorate into protests, most notably conducting a hunger strike to protest the gubernatorial elections of Chihuahua in 1986. This in turn lead to the regularization of under the table deals where the PRI gave various concessions to the PAN for their submission. Some scholars, such as Jon Shefner, have attributed the increased push for democratization to the increased globalization of Mexico, noting that democratization was seen as a "cure for the ills of the globalizing economy." López Portillo chose
Miguel de la Madrid Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado (; 12 December 1934 – 1 April 2012) was a Mexican politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who served as the 59th president of Mexico from 1982 to 1988. Inheriting a severe economic an ...
as his successor, and his presidency had no significant pro-democratic changes. Yet the federal government's failure to adequately respond to the 1982 economic crisis and the 1985 earthquake enhanced public discontent with the government. When de la Madrid chose
Carlos Salinas Carlos Salinas de Gortari CYC DMN (; born 3 April 1948) is a Mexican economist and politician who served as 60th president of Mexico from 1988 to 1994. Affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), earlier in his career he wor ...
as his successor, he upset the popular leftist
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano (; born 1 May 1934) is a Mexican prominent politician. The son of 51st President of Mexico Lázaro Cárdenas, he is a former Head of Government of Mexico City and a founder of the Party of the Democratic Revolu ...
, son of President Lázaro Cárdenas, who expected to be designated the PRI candidate. Cárdenas was thus motivated to leave the PRI and establish the Partido Revolucionario Democratico (PRD) in 1989 as the second significant opposition party to the PRI. On election day, Cardenas appeared to be approaching victorious, but a breakdown of electronic ballot machines eventually gave Salinas a narrow victory. As the PRD gained electoral power in local elections throughout the 1990s, it adopted the PAN's strategy of using mobilization to extract concessions from the PRI, though their mobilizations were more spontaneous and local compared to their conservative counterparts. The PRI continued to grant concessions, viewing them as the only way to keep their opposition at bay. The first five years of the 1990s saw an increase in the filing of electoral complaints in courts, reflecting more victories for the opposition parties and the PRI's continued attempts to maintain power.


Electoral reforms from López Portillo to Salinas

Despite the largely anti-democratic nature of national elections during this period, several electoral reforms were enacted to put the country on a pro-democratic route. Under López Portillo in 1977, electoral law was reformed, creating a random selection of citizens to serve at polling places and adding representatives from all political parties to the federal election commission. This law also required political parties to submit a declaration of principles, a program for action and statutes to be recognized as an official political party. Parties also had to obtain at least 1.5% of the national vote or have at least 3,000 members in at least half of the states or at least 300 affiliates in at least half of all single-member electoral districts to be officially recognized. According to Kevin Middlebrook, the regime-sponsored initiative was a response to the liberal and progressive factions within the PRI had become "increasingly convinced" that the regime was suffering a significant erosion, along with the public's shifting evaluations of government success. The public, during this time, had become increasingly discontent with the government's inability to satisfy the historical aspirations of the revolution, such as socioeconomic equity and opportunities for political participation. Only 32.8% of people participated in politics and 89.4% felt there was no freedom to do so. Under de la Madrid in 1987, the federal electoral code was reformed to increase the representation of political parties in the federal election commission and required the results of each polling place to be made public. In 1990 under Salinas, the Federal Code for Electoral Institutions and Procedures (COFIPE) was crafted in response to the chaos and perceived fraud of the 1988 election and was one of the most significant pro-democratic reforms yet. It established the
Federal Electoral Institute The Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE) (English for ''National Electoral Institute'') (formerly Federal Electoral Institute (, IFE)) is an autonomous, public agency responsible for organizing federal elections in Mexico, that is, those relate ...
(IFE) under the direction of the ministry of the interior to organize federal elections. In 1992 COFIPE was reformed, now requiring voters to have a special identification for voting; and in 1993 COFIPE was amended again to regulate the participation of electoral observers.


Democracy and the Zapatista uprising

Despite the electoral reforms from this period's administration, indigenous populations continued to be marginalized by the government, causing many to channel their frustration into rebellions. After a 1982 economic crisis, the government removed historic protections that limited foreign land ownership, ended agrarian reform, and allowed for the privatization of agrarian resources previously treated as social property. According to George Collier and Jane Collier, "by disbanding credits and infrastructural supports for peasant agriculture, and by phasing out price supports under the terms of
NAFTA The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA ; es, Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, TLCAN; french: Accord de libre-échange nord-américain, ALÉNA) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that crea ...
, the government appeared willing to sacrifice rural producers to unfair competition from imported and subsidized United States crops, particularly corn." Indigenous peasants, especially the coffee producers of
Chiapas Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...
, recognized this fact. These indigenous populations were regularly subject to the strict rule of indigenous caciques who put them in line with the PRI voting bloc and did not receive the benefits of the clientelist strategy the PRI regularly used to subject its other electoral blocks into compliance, as they were not located in the electorally- and population- rich cities. This led to the creation of the Zapatista Army and the Zapatista Rebellion. June Nash notes that the Zapatistas strove to bring democratic changes by demanding the undelivered land rights of the Constitution of 1917 and the recognition and expansion of distinct indigenous languages and cultural practices, reflecting the lack of full democratic integration of the diverse populations in Mexico. After armed conflict with the Mexican Army, international pressure mounted for the Mexican government and the Zapatista Army to reach a peaceful negotiation. Yet Nash notes that in the wake of negotiations, "The Zapatistas, once they agreed to negotiations, thus found themselves being offered the two ‘solutions’ advocated by transnational capital: ‘fair elections’ to replace a pact with government, and the ‘protection of human rights’ both to replace government services and to handle criticisms of the military's role in suppressing domestic unrest." While the government touted the pro-democratic reforms it achieved after the rebellion, the Zapatista Army encouraged their sympathizers to boycott the elections, believing the process could not be trusted, and thus indirectly contributed to local PRI wins. Moreover, while national and state committees on human rights were established, they did not promote the autonomy of indigenous communities or the interpretation of human rights to include economic and social principles as the Zapatistas wanted, creating a stalemate in negotiations. The Zapatista Rebellion, in short, highlighted the lack of democratic integration of the historically marginalized indigenous groups of Mexico.


Political situation, 2000 – present


Electoral reforms from Zedillo to present

Under
Ernesto Zedillo Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (; born 27 December 1951) is a Mexican economist and politician. He was 61st president of Mexico from 1 December 1994 to 30 November 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted 71-year line of Mexican presidents from t ...
, the PRI enacted further pro-democratic reforms. In 1994 COFIPE was amended to increase the weight of citizen councilors on the IFE's general council; in 1996 it was reformed again, this time to make the IFE an autonomous institution run by citizens, and to create the Federal Electoral Court as a specialized branch of the judiciary. In 1994 Zedillo also oversaw significant reforms to the Supreme Court. These reforms reduced the twenty-six judges back to eleven as the Constitution of 1917 originally mandated, increased the requirements to become a candidate by requiring candidates to have at least ten years of legal experience, allowed the Senate to pick the nominee from a list of three candidates presented by the presidency, submitted candidates to face interviews with the Senate, required nominees to obtain two-thirds of Senate approval before being approved, and reduced judges' life tenure to staggered fifteen-year terms. Most importantly, however, the reforms gave the Supreme Court the power to resolve disputes and check laws for their constitutionality, effectively giving them the power of judicial review and paved the way for the Supreme Court to be a counterbalance to the executive and legislative branches. In 2002, an electoral reform was passed requiring at least 30% of all the candidates for all political parties to be women, but exemptions are made for parties that select candidates by primary election.


Zedillo administration and the election of the PAN

Zedillo's administration saw the crumbling of governance by consensus. Additionally, the president's refusal to name his successor and intervene in the elections in favor of the PRI like his predecessors triggered the destabilization of the PRI's formula for electoral success. This led to the election of the first non-PRI president,
Vicente Fox Vicente Fox Quesada (; born 2 July 1942) is a Mexican businessman and politician who served as the 62nd president of Mexico from 1 December 2000 to 30 November 2006. After campaigning as a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist, Fox was elec ...
of the PAN. Some scholars, such as Enrique Krauze, Steven Barracca, and Lorenzo Meyer viewed Fox's election as the consolidation of democracy. Meyer, in light of the election, believed that there was "a good chance of going from authoritarianism to something that I hope is going to be democracy without the traumatic experience of the past-without repeating ourselves." According to Krauze, "The 2000 presidential election was Mexico's first truly democratic national contest in a century, and the victory of Vicente Fox...put an end to 71 years of oligarchic rule by the PRI." Yet other scholars did not view Fox's election in such a positive light, as the election of Fox did not mark the end of the PRI's overwhelming influence. Since the PRI continued to dominate the legislature, the PAN was forced to cooperate with them. A number of shared interests developed between the two parties, leading the public to nickname the coalition the "PRIAN".


PAN retains the presidency

The 2006 election was heavily contested between
Felipe Calderón Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 1 December 2006 to 30 November 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 a ...
, the PAN candidate, and
Andrés Manuel López Obrador Andrés Manuel López Obrador (; born 13 November 1953), also known by his initials AMLO, is a Mexican politician who has been serving as the 65th president of Mexico since 1 December 2018. He previously served as Head of Government of Mexico ...
(often abbreviated as "AMLO"), the PRD candidate. The extremely tight race resulted in Calderón's victory; however, López Obrador made a series of allegations claiming there were significant irregularities in the election, including a favorable intervention for Calderón orchestrated by President Fox, voter intimidation and ballot-box stuffing. While López Obrador's base vehemently accused the PAN of tampering with the elections, the
Federal Electoral Tribunal The Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary ( es, Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación, or ) is a venue within the judiciary of Mexico that specialises in electoral matters. Among its functions are resolving disputes aris ...
determined there had been no wrong-doing and that the elections were valid. Despite that, López Obrador proclaimed himself the "legitimate president" and held an inauguration for himself. Scholars, such as Jorge Castañeda, argues that the presence of national and international observers and a special prosecutor, along with the counting of votes by hand before party representatives and the series of electoral reforms from the 1980s and 1990s made it "virtually impossible" for there to be electoral wrongdoing. Castañeda does note that this does not mean the elections were equitable, arguing that certain elements skewed the elections in Calderón's favor, including national broadcasts extolling the Fox administration's accomplishments, a series of statements from the president of the perils of "changing horses while crossing the river," and Calderón's ads comparing López Obrador to Venezuelan populist president
Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...
. The advertisements, purchased by the Business Coordinating Council, as well as PAN social welfare programs benefiting the poor, all favored the incumbent party in the election. Despite Calderón's presidency representing the second non-PRI administration since 1910, Mexicans remained largely unsatisfied with the progress of their democracy, namely due to economic malaise and the disapproval of incumbents.
Drug cartel A drug cartel is any criminal organization with the intention of supplying drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises. The term was applied when the ...
violence exploded under Calderón, as he declared war on the cartels. Many have viewed the crisis during Calderón's presidency as "the explosion of a long and historic negligence of the Mexican authorities to make the changes necessary to prevent a crisis of public security of this magnitude." Cartel-related instability resulted largely from the PRI's historic agreements with drug cartels. The PRI had long-established mutually beneficial agreements with cartels, with politicians on the municipal, state, and national level taking a lenient stance towards cartels in exchange for bribes. The election of both Fox and Calderón had upset the delicate balance and long-term agreements that had held steady during the era of the PRI's era of unchallenged rule.


Return of the PRI and transition to López Obrador and MORENA

Because of Calderón's ineffective policies towards drug cartels, many people hoped that the election of a PRI candidate would reinstate the relative peace that had existed prior to the PAN's rule. This helped lead to the
election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
of
Enrique Peña Nieto Enrique Peña Nieto (; born 20 July 1966), commonly referred to by his initials EPN, is a Mexican politician who served as the 64th president of Mexico from 1 December 2012 to 30 November 2018. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party ...
, the PRI candidate in 2012. Yet contrary to expectations, tensions with drug mafias did not subside, and the general incompetency of the administration significantly increased popular discontent. This discontent manifested in the
election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
of López Obrador in 2018, the
National Regeneration Movement MORENA () is a major Mexican left-wing political party. It is described as an anti-neoliberal and populist party. It is the ruling party of Mexico since 2018. The name is an acronym for the Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (National Regener ...
(MORENA) candidate, marking the first election of a left-wing candidate and the first presidential candidate to officially win a majority of the vote in Mexico's history. According to César Cansino, López Obrador's administration is the most turbulent in memory, but one not characterized by in-fighting like that within the PRI, as with previous turmoil, but by heightened calls for democracy. In June 2021
midterm elections Apart from general elections and by-elections, midterm election refers to a type of election where the people can elect their representatives and other subnational officeholders (e.g. governor, members of local council) in the middle of the term ...
, López Obrador's left-leaning
Morena Morena is the headquarter city of Morena district, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is governed by a municipality corporation. It is also the administrative headquarters of the Chambal division. It is from Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. G ...
’s coalition lost seats in the lower house of Congress. However, his ruling coalition maintained a simple majority, but López Obrador failed to secure the two-thirds congressional supermajority. The main opposition was a coalition of Mexico’s three traditional parties: the center-right
Revolutionary Institutional Party The Institutional Revolutionary Party ( es, Partido Revolucionario Institucional, ; abbr. PRI) is a political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 and held uninterrupted power in the country for 71 years, from 1929 to 2000, first as the Nati ...
, right-wing National Action Party and leftist Party of the
Democratic Revolution Democratic Revolution () is a Chilean centre-left to left-wing political party, founded in 2012 by some of the leaders of the 2011 Chilean student protests, most notably the current Deputy Giorgio Jackson, who is also the most popular public fi ...
.


Modern Challenges


Fragility of democracy and rule of law

With the 2018 election of López Obrador, Mexico's recent democratic gains have proven a paradigm change. However, the independence of the INE is not guaranteed as it is a legacy institution that operated the two electoral fraud periods. However, some regime supported voices like
Enrique Krauze Enrique Krauze (Mexico City, September 16, 1947) is a Mexican historian, essayist, editor, and entrepreneur. He has written more than twenty books, some of which are: ''Mexico: Biography of Power'', ''Redeemers'', and ''El pueblo soy yo'' (''I a ...
contends that López Obrador is an “elected despot,” similar to Venezuela's late President
Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...
. He sees López Obrador as illegitimately blending the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary “into a single power that distorts the truth and appropriates history.” In Krauze's assessment, López Obrador has accumulated far more power than any previous president of Mexico and that currently “there is no political force that can compete with him,” given the ruin of the PRI, lack of leadership within the PAN, and nonexistence of political power of the other opposition parties. A multiparty system began emerging in 1997, when the PRI failed to win a legislative majority in the lower house. The judiciary was becoming more independent of the executive, but those changes have been reversed under López Obrador. The National Institute for Access to Information and Data Protection (INAI), created in 2003 to ensure transparency in government spending, has had its funding cut and is at risk of complete elimination. Although AMLO was elected with promises to the electorate to end corruption, contracts are now awarded with no oversight to companies owned by the president's friends.


Primary election participation

Kathleen Bruhn argues that democratic methods to choose candidates in primaries elect less radical candidates than non-democratic methods, not because voters pick candidates who reflect the positions of the electorate the most, but because the process encourages the election of candidates who are acceptable to multiple internal factions of the party. Bruhn notes that the primary system in Mexico specifically varies across and within political parties – as of 2006, the PAN uses primaries to select 52% of their candidates while the PRD uses them to choose 36% of them. The PRI does not use primaries at all. The PAN only allows active members to participate in its primaries, and to become an active member, one must be nominated by a previous member, take courses on the party doctrine, and serve as apprentices. This leads to 33% of potential electors per 1000 registered voters being represented in the PAN primaries. The PRD, conversely, has fewer barriers – one must be an official party member to participate in the primaries, but the time between party membership and voting in the primaries is short. This results in 97.5% of potential electors per 1000 registered voters being represented in the primaries. Thus, the selection of candidates is not fully democratic for any party, and some barriers exist to full citizenry participation.


Clientelism

Clientelism Clientelism or client politics is the exchange of goods and services for political support, often involving an implicit or explicit quid-pro-quo. It is closely related to patronage politics and vote buying. Clientelism involves an asymmetric rel ...
continues to have a lasting legacy in Mexico. Some scholars, such as Alberto Olvera, dispute the effectiveness of the most recent wave of reforms to reduce clientelism. Olvera contends that Mexico's "transition to democracy has not been completed in terms of either the destitution of the authoritarian regime or the establishment of a democratic regime, a situation that explains the continuity of authoritarian practices and culture in public life. Not only did the Partido Revolucionario Institucional preserve impressive veto power over constitutional reforms and even small changes in matters of public policy, but also the other two main political parties (Partido Accion Nacional and Partido de la Revolucion Democratica) had no alternative democratic projects and reproduced the clientelistic and particularistic political culture of the past; civil society was (and is) both socially and politically weak, and its popular sectors suffered important strategic defeats along the process." According to Olvera, PRD politicians use clientelism not only because of its entrenchment or the high rates of poverty in Mexico but also because of the limited institutionalization of its internal democratic rules. When the PRD first became a party, it merged various left-wing activists, parties, and social movements with diverse views. The emergence of Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas as a predominant leader set the party on a pattern of having personalistic factions and centralized power. Because most of the resources were focused on elections rather than institutionalizing party rules, each faction continued to pursue its own goals and leadership alliances and factions battled over voters, creating clientelistic tenancies. As of 2004, there were reported instances of ballot-box stuffing, ballot-box theft, vote buying, membership list inflation, and member deletion in internal elections of the PRD. Similarly, PRI electoral machines continue to work strongly in local elections, carrying the legacy of clientelism and extralegal deals from the PRI's earlier days. The only way to remedy the simultaneous over-politicization of democratic systems and depoliticization of public life that have resulted, according to Olvera, is for new social and political actors to emerge.


Electoral court

While various reforms have established institutions and an electoral court to prevent electoral fraud, Todd Eisenstadt contends that these institutions have not extended their influence to the fullest level. State- and local-level progress to make elections credible has been slower as PRI machines are still working strong despite opposition wins at the national level. The expensive and autonomous electoral institutions are ignored when they are the most needed in post-electoral conflicts – in 13% of all local elections between 1988-2001 and 15% of local elections from 1989–2000, opposition parties and incumbents negotiate extralegal bargains to resolve their disputes instead of submitting legal complaints. While local political bosses (also known as ''caciques'') can defy local formal electoral institutions in their zones of influence, the informal bargaining institutions in which they reach agreements are subject to presidential discretion. This informal system, thus, has created an uphill battle for the establishment of transparency in local elections.


Anti-re-electionist principle and campaign finance

The anti-re-electionist principle, which holds that Mexican politicians should only stand for one term, continues to be a point of contention among scholars and the populace. Some scholars, such as conservative Jorge Castañeda, have criticized the anti-re-electionist principle as they argue candidates are made more likely to subject themselves to voters' will when re-election is at play. Similarly, Alberto Olvera of the Universidad Veracruzana argued that this principle also means the legislative and executive powers cannot develop cycles of professionalization and specialization, the political class has become beholden to a few governors, the president, and some de facto powers who manage their careers. The anti-re-election principle has also generated significant electoral system and campaign costs, creating a dependency on those who finance campaigns. Castañeda argues that inequality in campaign financing continues to result in inequality of air time and ad time like in the 2006 election and thus continues to make the exposure of candidates and elections unequal today. Nonetheless, other scholars have seen this principle as a way to prevent repeating the mistakes of dictatorial pasts. Enrique Krauze is concerned that López Obrador might be tempted to challenge the principle, given his charismatic as well as constitutional power. The topic of re-elections and their effects on accountability continues to be a contentious topic in Mexican politics.


Gender equality in representation

A 2002 electoral reform established gender quotas for all political parties, excepting parties that select candidates via primaries. Lisa Baldez argues that in times of electoral uncertainty, gender quotas allow for internal party reform, which parties can exploit in campaigns to appear more democratic. Courts play a central role in the interpretation of these laws so that, without independent courts, the law can be interpreted in a way favoring the party with the most control. The results of this law are mixed, although it did lead to a notable increase in female representation in the 2003 midterms, where women won 23% of the seats up in that election, a 7% increase from the previous midterms. The IFE did not hold parties accountable to a specific definition of what counted as primary elections, diluting the full potential of the effect of the gender quota implementation. The PRI and PAN especially used primaries to avoid the gender quota, and the IFE did not closely scrutinize the variance among primaries. Baldez argues that this highlights that progress in implementation can and should be made for the sake of having more equitable policies.


Effects of electoral manipulation on voter turnout

Historically, in Mexico and elsewhere, electoral manipulation has been associated with discouraged voters and lowered voter turnout. This was especially true during the peak of the PRI's rule. Scholars believed that turnout would increase after the electoral reforms of the 1990s. However, while electoral manipulation has decreased as a result of these reforms, aggregate turnout in elections has remained stagnant – it averaged 58.5% in the six elections prior to 1991 and 58.1% in the seven elections in 1991–2009 according to Alberto Simpser. His study finds that "each percentage point of the vote that the PRI added to its total via manipulation in the pre-reform period was associated with a 1.7% to 2.4% decrease in the pre-reform level of voter (true) turnout." Moreover, it notes that there is a significant discrepancy between true turnout and turnout figures, as self-reported turnout figures regularly inflate turnout rates to paint a better picture of elections. Simpser, professor and chair of the Political Science Department at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico, also emphasizes that a failure to detect turnout anomalies does not equate with a lack of wrongdoing because of this misreporting, and warns electoral manipulation likely continues today.


Current Elected Federal Offices


President

The president is elected by popular vote at the national level and serves one six-year term. They hold the sole power of the Executive branch, and serve as the Chief of State and the Army.


Congress

The Mexican National Congress is bicameral. It is required to hold two ordinary sessions per year – the first of which begins on September 1 and lasts until December 15 of the same year (unless it is the year a new president takes office) and the second of which begins on February 1 and ends on April 30. A standing committee composed of 19 members of the Lower Chamber and 18 of the Upper Chamber has the sole power to call extraordinary sessions.


Lower Chamber

The Lower Chamber is composed of 500 representatives who each serve a three-year term. Each state and Mexico City is allocated a number of representatives proportional to their population. 300 of the representatives are elected by majority vote in their respective states. The remaining 200 are elected via proportional representation party lists. For this process, the nation is divided into five districts that combine multiple states, and each district is given 40 representatives. To earn representation through this proportional voting portion, parties must earn at least 2% of the total votes. Moreover, parties may not win more than 215 seats and thus may not hold an absolute majority.


Upper Chamber

The Upper Chamber is composed of 128 members who each serve a six-year term. Each state elects three senators – two of these are allocated through a relative majority and the third seat is given according to the first minority principle, meaning it is given to the party that earned the second largest number of votes. The remaining 32 seats are appointed through a proportional representation system according to the voter rolls at a national level, and the natural quotient and higher remainder electoral formulas are used.


See also

* Politics in Mexico *
Elections in Mexico Elections in Mexico are held every 6 years to elect a president and every 3 years to elect a legislature. These elections determine who, on the national level, takes the position of the head of state – the president – as well as the legislatu ...
*
National Electoral Institute The Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE) (English for ''National Electoral Institute'') (formerly Federal Electoral Institute (, IFE)) is an autonomous, public agency responsible for organizing federal elections in Mexico, that is, those relate ...
*
Federal Electoral Tribunal The Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary ( es, Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación, or ) is a venue within the judiciary of Mexico that specialises in electoral matters. Among its functions are resolving disputes aris ...
* Political parties in México *
Constitution of 1812 The Political Constitution of the Spanish Monarchy ( es, link=no, Constitución Política de la Monarquía Española), also known as the Constitution of Cádiz ( es, link=no, Constitución de Cádiz) and as ''La Pepa'', was the first Constituti ...
*
Sentiments of the Nation Sentiment may refer to: *Feelings, and emotions *Public opinion, also called sentiment *Sentimentality, an appeal to shallow, uncomplicated emotions at the expense of reason *Sentimental novel, an 18th-century literary genre *Market sentiment, opt ...
(1813) *
Congress of Chilpancingo The Congress of Chilpancingo ( es, Congreso de Chilpancingo), also known as the Congress of Anáhuac, was the first, independent congress that replaced the Assembly of Zitácuaro, formally declaring itself independent from the Spanish crown. It w ...
*
Creole nationalism The term Creole nationalism or Criollo nationalism refers to the ideology that emerged in independence movements among the Criollos (descendants of the European colonizers), especially in Latin America in the early 19th century. Creole nationali ...
*
Solemn Act of the Declaration of Independence of Northern America The Solemn Act of Northern America's Declaration of Independence ( es, Acta Solemne de la Declaración de Independencia de la América Septentrional) is the first Mexican legal historical document which established the separation of Mexico from S ...
*
Mexican War of Independence The Mexican War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia de México, links=no, 16 September 1810 – 27 September 1821) was an armed conflict and political process resulting in Mexico's independence from Spain. It was not a single, co ...
*
Constitution of Apatzingán The Constitution of Apatzingán, formally ''Decreto Constitucional para la Libertad de la América Mexicana'' ("Constitutional Decree for the Liberty of Mexican America"), was promulgated on October 22, 1814 by the Congress of Anahuac gathered in ...
(1814) *
Plan of Iguala The Plan of Iguala, also known as The Plan of the Three Guarantees ("Plan Trigarante") or Act of Independence of North America, was a revolutionary proclamation promulgated on 24 February 1821, in the final stage of the Mexican War of Independenc ...
1821 * Mexico Constitution of 1824 *
Constitution of 1857 The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857 ( es, Constitución Federal de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos de 1857), often called simply the Constitution of 1857, was the liberal constitution promulgated in 1857 by Constituent Cong ...
*
Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...
*
Plan of San Luis Potosí 230px, Francisco I. Madero, future President of Mexico The Plan of San Luis de Potosí () is a key political document of the Mexican Revolution, written by Mexican presidential candidate Francisco I. Madero, following his escape from jail. He ...
*
Constitution of 1917 The Constitution of Mexico, formally the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States ( es, Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the current constitution of Mexico. It was drafted in Santiago de Querétaro, in th ...
*
Institutional Revolutionary Party The Institutional Revolutionary Party ( es, Partido Revolucionario Institucional, ; abbr. PRI) is a political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 and held uninterrupted power in the country for 71 years, from 1929 to 2000, first as the Nati ...
PRI *
National Action Party (Mexico) The National Action Party ( es, Partido Acción Nacional, PAN) is a conservative political party in Mexico founded in 1939. The party is one of the four main List of political parties in Mexico, political parties in Mexico, and, since the 1980s, ...
PAN *
Tlatelolco massacre On October 2, 1968 in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City, the Mexican Armed Forces opened fire on a group of unarmed civilians in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas who were protesting the upcoming 1968 Summer Olympics. The Mexican government and ...
*
Party of the Democratic Revolution The Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD, es, Partido de la Revolución Democrática, ) is a social democratic political party in Mexico. The PRD originated from the Democratic Current, a political faction formed in 1986 from the Institut ...
PRD *
National Regeneration Movement MORENA () is a major Mexican left-wing political party. It is described as an anti-neoliberal and populist party. It is the ruling party of Mexico since 2018. The name is an acronym for the Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (National Regener ...
MORENA


References


Further reading

*Annino, Antonio. "The Two-Faced Janus: The Pueblos and the Origins of Mexican Liberalism" in ''Cycles of Conflict, Centuries of Change: Crisis, Reform, and Revolution in Mexico'', Elisa Servín, Leticia Reina, and John Tutino, eds. Durham: Duke University Press 2007, pp. 60–90. *Bailey, John J. "Perceptions and attitudes about corruption and democracy in Mexico." Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos 22.1 (2006): 57–81. *Benson, Nettie Lee. "The Contested Mexican Election of 1812." The Hispanic American Historical Review 26.3 (1946): 336–350. *Benson, Nettie Lee. "The Elections of 1809: Transforming Political Culture in New Spain." Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos Feb. 2004, vol. 20(1);;. 1-20. *Benson, Nettie Lee, ed. Mexico and the Spanish Cortes, 1810–1822: Eight Essays. Vol. 5. University of Texas Press, 2014. *Benson, Nettie Lee, and Charles R. Berry. "The Central American Delegation to the First Constituent Congress of Mexico, 1822-1823." The Hispanic American Historical Review 49.4 (1969): 679–702. *Bruhn, Kathleen. ''Taking on Goliath: The emergence of a new left party and the struggle for democracy in Mexico''. Penn State Press, 2010. * Camp, Roderic Ai. "Learning democracy in Mexico and the United States." Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos 19.1 (2003): 3-27. * Castañeda, Jorge. ''Perpetuating Power: How Mexican Presidents were Chosen''. The New Press 2000. *Chand, Vikram K. ''Mexico's Political Awakening'', Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press 2001. *Eisenstadt, Todd A. ''Courting democracy in Mexico: party strategies and electoral institutions''. Cambridge University Press, 2003. *Guedea, Virginia. "The First Popular Elections in Mexico City, 1812-13," in ''The Evolution of the Mexican Political System'', ed. Jaime Rodríguez O. Wilmington: Scholarly Resources 1993. *Holzner, Claudio A. "Clientelism and democracy in Mexico: the role of strong and weak networks." Hank Johnston Paul Almeida, eds. ''Latin American Movements: Globalization, Democratization and Transnational Networks''. New York, Rowman and Littlefield (2006): 77–94. * Krauze, Enrique. "Furthering democracy in Mexico." Foreign Affairs (2006): 54–65. *La Botz, Dan. ''Democracy in Mexico: Peasant rebellion and political reform''. South End Press, 1995. *Ortiz-Ortega, Adriana, and Mercedes Barquet. "Gendering transition to democracy in Mexico." Latin American Research Review (2010): 108–137. *Preston, Julia, and Samuel Dillon. ''Opening Mexico: The making of a democracy''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005. *Puig, Salvador Martí, Reynaldo Yunuen Ortega Ortiz, and Claire Wright, eds. ''Democracy in Mexico: Attitudes and perceptions of citizens at national and local level''. Institute of Latin American Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, 2014. *Reina, Leticia. "Local Elections and Regime Crises: The Political Culture of Indigenous Peoples." in ''Cycles of Conflict, Centuries of Change: Crisis, Reform, and Revolution in Mexico'', Elisa Servín, Leticia Reina, and John Tutino, eds. Durham: Duke University Press 2007, pp. 91–125. *Rodríguez O., Jaime E. "From Royal Subject to Republican Citizen: The Role of the Autonomists in the Independence of Mexico." In ''the Independence of Mexico and the Creation of the New Nation''. Jaime Rodriguez O. ed. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center 1989, pp. 19–44. *Rodríguez O., Jaime E. "The Nature of Representation in New Spain." In ''Political Culture in Spanish America, 1500–1830'', 31-50. Lincoln; London: University of Nebraska Press, 2017. Accessed June 13, 2020. *Shirk, David A. ''Mexico's New Politics: The PAN and Democratic Change''. Boulder: Lynne Rienner 2004. *Trevizo, Dolores. ''Rural Protest and the Making of Democracy in Mexico, 1968-2000''. Penn State Press, 2011. *Vidal, D. Xavier Medina, et al. "Partisan attachment and democracy in Mexico: some cautionary observations." Latin American Politics and Society 52.1 (2010): 63–87. {{div col end, 2


External links


Enrique Krauze, "López Obrador: Mexico's Ruinous Messiah"
accessed 20 June 2020 History of Mexico Political history of Mexico Liberalism in Mexico Political history Democracy movements by country