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Political Parties

In Mexico, the designation of political party is exclusively given to those political organizations that formally apply and comply with the requirements to obtain their legal registry. The recognition of their legal personality bestows a number of rights, prerogatives and obligations provided by the law, such as free and permanent access to radio and television, public funding, and a special fiscal and postal/telegraph regime.

the Constitution states that public funding must prevail over private funding sources that the law allows and regulates. That is, the greatest share of the total amount of resources that the political parties use in order to achieve their goals as defined by law must come from public funds. Still, the law does not specify the exact amount, only the proportion. Free access is the only way political parties and their candidates may transmit electoral advertisement through radio and television that, in Mexico, operate under a scheme of licenses and concessions granted by the State. With this reform and by constitutional mandate, neither the political parties, nor any other subject may hire time slots in electronic media for electoral purposes.

For a national political party to keep its registry, it is essential to obtain at least 2 percent of the total votes in an ordinary federal election, either for President, Deputies or Senators. The midterm elections of 2009 included the eight legally recognized political parties:

• Partido Acción Nacional, PAN (National Action Party)
• Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party)
• Partido de la Revolución Democrática, PRD (Democratic Revolution Party)
• Partido Verde Ecologista de México, PVEM (Green Ecological Party of Mexico)
• Partido del Trabajo, PT (Labor Party)
• Convergencia (Convergence)
• Partido Nueva Alianza, PANAL (New Alliance Party)
• Partido Socialdemócrata PSD (Social Democratic Party)

It is worth emphasizing that the Partido del Trabajo and Convergencia conformed a coalition named Salvemos a México (Let us save Mexico) nominating common candidates in the 300 districts where Majority Deputies will be elected; in turn, the PRI and PVEM compete with common candidates for Majority Deputies in 63 districts by means of a coalition called Primero México.

The Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional-PRI) was the country's preeminent political organization from 1929 until the early 1990s. Historically, the PRI has been ideologically a center-left party, blending nationalism with mildly redistributionist public policies. Since its founding, the PRI has portrayed itself as a champion of workers and landless peasants. However, during the mid-1980s the "technocratic" wing of the party, which favored market-oriented reform, became dominant over its populist wing. Over the course of three general election cycles (1982, 1988, and 1994), the PRI's leadership selected presidential candidates primarily based on their ability to implement market oriented reforms. This trend alienated much of the PRI's populist "político" wing, prompting many party members to defect to organizations farther to the left.

Until the early 1980s, the PRI's position in the Mexican political system was hegemonic, and opposition parties posed little or no threat to its power base or its near monopoly of public office. This situation changed during the mid-1980s as opposition parties of the left and right began to seriously challenge PRI candidates for local, state, and national offices.

On the right, the National Action Party (Partido de Acción Nacional-PAN) has made the greatest inroads into national politics-most notably by attaining the presidency in 2000 and ending seven decades of PRI control over the executive branch. The PAN emerged as a conservative reaction to the nationalizations and land confiscations undertaken by PRI governments in the 1930s. Its power base is heavily concentrated in the wealthier states of the north and center of the country. The PAN resembles a standard Christian Democratic party, deriving its early support primarily from the Roman Catholic Church, the business sector, and other groups alienated by the left-wing populist policies of past PRI governments.

On the left, the Democratic Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Democrático-PRD) emphasizes social welfare concerns and opposes most economic reforms implemented since the mid-1980s. Although it encompasses much of the rank and file of the former communist and socialist parties, the PRD is controlled by former PRI leaders. Several minor parties also are represented in the Congress and in state and local governments: the Labor Party (Partido del Trabajo-PT), Mexican Green Ecologist Party (Partido Verde Ecologista Mexicano-PVEM), New Alliance Party (Partido Nueva Alianza), and Social Democratic and Rural Alternative Party (Partido Democracia Social y Alternativa Rural).

On July 2, 2000, Vicente Fox Quesada of the opposition Alliance for Change coalition, mainly headed by the National Action Party (PAN), was elected president, in what are considered to have been the freest and fairest elections in Mexico's history. Fox began his 6-year term on December 1. His victory ended the Institutional Revolutionary Party's (PRI) 71-year hold on the presidency.

Numerous electoral reforms implemented since 1989 aided in the opening of the Mexican political system, and opposition parties have made historic gains in elections at all levels. Many of the concerns shifted from fraud to campaign fairness issues. During 1995-96 the political parties negotiated constitutional amendments to address these issues. Implementing legislation included major points of consensus that had been worked out with the opposition parties. The thrust of the new laws has public financing predominate over private contributions to political parties, tightens procedures for auditing the political parties, and strengthens the authority and independence of electoral institutions. The court system also was given greatly expanded authority to hear civil rights cases on electoral matters brought by individuals or groups. In short, the extensive reform efforts have "leveled the playing field" for the parties.

Responding to increasing popular pressure for democratization, the de la Madrid administration in 1986 introduced an electoral reform package that expanded opportunities for an opposition presence in the congress. The 1986 Electoral Reform Law enlarged the Chamber of Deputies from 400 to 500 seats and doubled the number of congressional seats filled by proportional representation to 200. Of the 500 deputyships, one each is allocated to 300 electoral districts, elected by simple plurality in single-member districts comparable to those in the United States. The remaining 200 seats are assigned by proportional representation based on a party's share of the national vote tally. The proportional seats give opposition parties an opportunity to be represented in the congress even if they lose all of the district races. The PRI assured, however, that the distribution of proportional seats would not become a means for a coalition of parties without a plurality of the overall vote to take control of the lower house. A clause in the electoral law provides that enough proportional seats in the Chamber of Deputies be assigned to the party winning an overall plurality in the election to give that party a majority in the Chamber of Deputies.

The introduction of proportional representation made the bicameral Mexican Congress a more pluralized institution. The Senate's 128 seats are filled by a mixture of direct-election and proportional representation. In the lower chamber, 300 deputies are directly elected to represent single-member districts, and 200 are selected by a modified form of proportional representation from five electoral regions. The 200 proportional representation seats were created to help smaller parties gain access to the Chamber. No party held an absolute majority in either house. As competition among Mexico's three major parties in Congress increased, the legislative branch was playing an increasingly important role in Mexico's democratic transformation.

Even before the new electoral law was passed, opposition parties had obtained an increasing voice in Mexico's political system. A substantial number of candidates from opposition parties had won election to the Chamber of Deputies and senate. As a result of the 2000 elections, the Congress was more diverse than ever. In the Chamber elected in 2000, 211 seats belong to the PRI, 206 to the PAN, 50 to the PRD, 17 for the Green Party, and the remaining 16 are split among four smaller parties. In the 128-seat Senate, the upper house of Congress, the PRI still held the most seats at 60, but the PAN held 46, the PRD15, the Greens 5, and two smaller parties each had one seat. Senators serve 6 years in office and Deputies 3 years; neither can be elected to consecutive terms.

As a result of the 2003 elections, the Congress was more diverse than ever. In the Chamber, 223 seats belong to the PRI, 154 to the PAN, 96 to the PRD, 17 to the Green Party, and the remaining seats are split among smaller parties. In the 128-seat Senate, the upper house of Congress, the PRI still held the most seats at 60, but the PAN held 46, the PRD 16, the Greens 5, and one senator is an independent. In the 2006 elections, the PAN emerged as the largest party in both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, with just over 40 percent of the seats in each house of Congress. It did not enjoy a legislative majority.

The eight political parties that contested either individually or as part of a coalition in the elections for the renewal of the Lower Chamber in July 2, 2006, obtained the number of votes required (at least 2 percent of the total national votes) to obtain representation in the current federal legislation under the following terms:

Chamber of Deputies (Cámara de Diputados)