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Elections in Mexico are held forofficials atfederal,state, andmunicipal levels. At the federal level, the nation'shead of state, thepresident, isdirectly elected with the popular vote by allMexican citizens for asix-year non-renewable term. All members of thebicameral federallegislature, theCongress of the Union, are also elected by all Mexican citizens. At the state level, each state has an electivegovernor andunicameralcongress. At the municipal level, themunicipal presidents are also elected by their citizens. Since 2016, aconstitutional amendment has designatedMexico City to be a fully autonomous entity on par with the states. Itscity head ("mayor"),city congress, andborough mayors are elected by their citizens, similarly to those states.
Mexican citizens over 18 are eligible to vote in all Mexican elections. To carry the ballot, the citizen should first request aVoter Credential (Spanish:Credencial para votar), a plastic card issued by theNational Electoral Institute (Spanish:Instituto Nacional Electoral, INE) of thefederal government.[1]
To receive a voter credential, citizens need:
Mexico is afederal republic. The electoral system is regulated by theConstitution of Mexico and the constitutions of the 32 federative entities. These constitutionsseparate powers into three branches:executive,legislative, andjudicial. The heads of the executive and all members of the legislature are open to election by the citizens. Officials of the judiciary were previously not open to election until the approval of the2024 Mexican judicial reform. The first judicial elections will be held in2025.[2]
The heads of government executive bodies are commonlydirectly elected by popular vote for a six-year term. Terms of elected executives are non-renewable, and seeking to be reelected is forbidden by the Constitution. The executive election is held through voting on a singleplurality ballot for the candidate, and the winner is decided byfirst-past-the-post voting.
The members of the legislatures are commonlydirectly elected by popular vote for a three-year (federal andlocal deputies) or a six-year (senators) term. There are usually term limits placed on legislative members (12 years at the federal level, not eligible for immediate re-election starting in 2030). All legislative elections havemixed electoral systems. The votes are counted toward candidates andpolitical parties through one-ballotmixed single or two-ballotparallel voting. The winners are decided by a hybrid acrossfirst-past-the-post voting (single-member district),party-list proportional representation, and/ormixed-member proportional representation.
Mexico has amulti-party system with three dominantpolitical parties. Before 2000, Mexico had asystem of one-party dominance under theInstitutional Revolutionary Party and some smaller opposition parties. Alliances and coalitions are common. Usually, they are local (state) affairs and involve one of the big three and any number of minor parties, though, on extraordinary occasions, two of the big three will ally themselves against the third (e.g., the2003 Colima state election or the2004 Chihuahua state election).[3]
Article 2 of theConstitution of Mexico provides for the self-government of indigenous communities according to their "traditional customs" (Spanish:Sistema de usos y costumbres).[4] This has resulted in several indigenous communities in Mexico maintaining local systems, notably those ofCherán and areas underCouncils of Good Government control.
According to theConstitution of Mexico, several important officials of thefederal government of Mexico (Spanish:Gobierno federal de México orPoderes de la Unión) shall be elected by allMexican citizens, including thepresident of Mexico, who serves as thehead of state andhead of government, all members of thebicameralCongress of the Union that consists of theChamber of Deputies and theSenate of the Republic, as well as the top officials of thejudiciary, including theSupreme Court of Justice of the Nation, along with other courts and tribunals.
Under the current Mexicanelectoral system, thepresident of Mexico isdirectly elected for asix-year non-renewable term. The 128 senators are elected for a six-year term. The 500 deputies are elected for a three-year term. The elections are synchronized so thatMexican citizens elect the president, senators, and deputies at once every six years. Amidterm election for deputies will occur at the midpoint of the six-year term. Federal elections are typically held on the first Sunday in June.
The last general election for president, the Senate, and the Chamber of Deputies was held on2 June 2024. The next Chamber of Deputies election is expected in 2027, while the next presidential and Senate elections are scheduled for 2030.
Following the2024 judicial reform, the first judicial elections took place on1 June 2025, with subsequent elections also planned for 2027.[5]
| Branch | Institution | Official | Number | Term limit | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Executive | President | 1 | 6-year, non-renewable | |||
| Legislative | Congress of the Union | Chamber of Deputies | Deputy | 500 | 3-year, max 4 terms | |
| Senate of the Republic | Senator | 128 | 6-year, max 2 terms | |||
| Judicial | Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation | Justice | 9 | 12-year, non-renewable | ||
| Judicial Disciplinary Tribunal | Magistrate | 5 | 6-year, non-renewable | |||
| Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary | Superior Chamber | Magistrate | 7 | 6-year, non-renewable | ||
| Regional Chamber | 15 | |||||
| Circuit Court | Magistrate | 910 | 9-year, max 2 terms | |||
| District Court | Judge | 737 | 9-year, max 2 terms | |||
Thepresident of Mexico (Spanish:Presidente de México) is elected for a six-year term bydirect election of allMexican citizens. The candidate who wins a plurality of votes is elected president. No president can serve more than a single term in office. Therefore, every presidential election in Mexico is a non-incumbent election.[2]
Mexico does not have an office ofvice president.
Candidates for president must be at least 35 years old. They must beMexican citizens by birth, as must one of their parents. They must have been residents of Mexico for at least 20 years. They also cannot have been either thegovernor of a state or thehead of government of Mexico City for six months before the election.[6]
TheCongress of the Union (Spanish:Congreso de la Unión) comprisestwo chambers: theChamber of Deputies and theSenate of the Republic.
TheChamber of Deputies (Spanish:Cámara de Diputados) has 500 deputies (Spanish:diputados). The deputies are elected to a three-year term through a two-ballotparallel voting system.[2][7] They may serve up to four consecutive terms (non-consecutive starting in 2030).[6]
To be eligible to place candidates in the multi-seat districts, a party must have candidates in at least 200 of the 300 single-seat districts and must win at least 3% of the vote in those elections. The 200 proportional representation seats are distributed based on the percentage of the total national votes earned by each party without considering the 300 plurality seats (parallel voting). However, since 1996, a party cannot get more seats than 8% above its national result (i.e., to win 50% of the legislative seats, a party must win at least 42% of the vote nationwide). There are three exceptions to this rule: first, a party can only lose proportional representation seats due to this rule (and no plurality seats); second, a party can never get more than 300 seats overall (even if it has more than 52% of the vote nationally); and third, a party can exceed this 8% rule if it wins the seats in the single-member districts.[2]
Candidates for the Chamber of Deputies must be registered voters at least 18 years old. They must also have been born in or resided in the states they are running in for at least six months.
TheSenate of the Republic (Spanish:Senado de la República), or Chamber of Senators (Spanish:Cámara de Senadores), has 128 senators (Spanish:senadores). Senators are elected to a six-year term through a one-ballotmixed single vote system, where the single party-list vote is counted in the following two ways.[2][7] Senators may run for two consecutive terms (non-consecutive starting in 2030).[6]
Candidates for the Senate must be registered voters at least 25 years old. They must also have been born in or resided in the states they are running in for at least six months.[6]
Electoral magistrates, the secretary of the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary, and the executive secretary and executive director of the INE must separate themselves from their positions for at least three years before seeking legislative office.[8]
Mexico has 32 federative entities (Spanish:entidades federativas), including 31states andMexico City. Each federative entity elects its head of theexecutive (governor orhead of government) and alllegislative members (congress).
The leader of a federative entity is officially namedgovernor (Spanish:gobernador) for aMexican state andhead of government (Spanish:jefe/jefa de Gobierno) forMexico City. These officials are elected for a six-year non-renewable term by the citizens of that federative entity.
To be a governor or head of government:
Each federative entity has aunicamerallegislature officially namedCongress (Spanish:Congreso). Members of the congresses are called deputies (Spanish:diputados). All seats of the Congress are elected to three-year terms in amixed electoral system. Deputies can serve up to four consecutive terms (non-consecutive starting in 2030).
For example, there are 75 seats in theCongress of the State of México. Forty-five seats are apportioned in direct elections in single-member districts, and 30 are apportioned via proportional appointments. Political parties nominate their candidates for proportional appointments before the election. For a party to be eligible for proportional-appointment seats, it must run candidates in at least 30 districts and receive at least 3% of the vote throughout the state.
Similar to the federalChamber of Deputies, a party cannot have more than 8% of the seats in the legislature above its percentage of statewide votes (e.g., to win 50% of the legislative seats, a party must win at least 42% of the vote statewide) unless that excess was earned in the direct elections.
To be a deputy of the Congress:
Under the currentadministrative divisions of Mexico, states are divided intomunicipalities, and Mexico City is divided intoboroughs. The autonomy of these divisions is protected by theConstitution of Mexico. Leaders of these divisions, calledmunicipal presidents (Spanish:presidentes municipales) or borough mayors (Spanish:alcaldes), aredirectly elected for a three-year once-renewable term (non-consecutive starting in 2030). As of March 2024, there are 2,461 municipalities and 16 boroughs, constituting 2,477 electoral territorial units.[9]
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