Mexican Political Institutions, Political Parties, Elections

1. Mexican Political Institutions, Political Parties, Elections

2. Government Institutions • Mexico is a federal republic, though state and local governments have little independent power and few resources • Executive branch has held majority of the power historically

3. Executive Branch • Center of policy-making • Directly elected • Sexenio: non-renewable six-year term • President’s powers under PRI system: • Selected successor • Appointed officials to ALL positions of power in the government • Managed huge patronage system (camarillas) • Control over “rubber-stamp” Congress • Current powers: • Initiate legislation and issue decrees with the force of law

4. Changes in the Executive Branch • President Ernesto Zedillo (1994-2000) –relinquished a number of informal powers, including naming the PRI candidate for the 2000 election (1st PRI primary) • Harder for president to accomplish political goals without strong party support in the post-PRI Congress • Weakened power of the presidency

5. Bureaucracy • Under PRI, corruption and bribes quite common amongst officials in the bureaucracy • Major source of employment • Parastatal Sector – companies owned or controlled by the state • PEMEX (state-owned petroleum company) • After 1980’s oil bust, reforms cut the number of parastatals, and many are now privately owned

6. Legislature • Bicameral • Chamber of Deputies (500 members) (Lower House) • 300 deputies from single-member districts (first-past-the-post, plurality elections) • 200 deputies chosen by proportional representation (PR) • 3 year terms • Senate (128 members) (Upper House) • 3 senators from each of the 31 states & the federal district (96) • Remaining 32 selected by proportional representation • 6 year terms • All legislators directly elected

8. Women’s Role in the Legislature • Women in both houses has risen significantly since 1996 election law required parties to sponsor female candidates • Parties must run at least 30% female candidates for proportional representation and single-member district elections (quotas) • 113 of 500 deputies in Chamber are female • 20 of 128 Senators are also female

9. Judiciary • Mexico does not have a truly independent judiciary • Most laws are federal, limiting the authority of state courts • Historically has been controlled by the executive branch • Judiciary has become more independent in past decade

10. Supreme Court • Officially has judicial review, but it never overrules important government policy or actions • Judges appointed for life, but in practice resigned at the beginning of each sexenio

11. Democratization + Linkage Institutions • As democratization began (1990s) and civil society began to develop, structures (parties, interest groups, civil society) were already in place, so activating democracy was easier than it would have been otherwise • Democratization much easier in Mexico than in Russia because new institutions had to be created in Russia but simply reformed in Mexico

12. Political Parties • Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) • National Action Party (PAN) • Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD)

13. PRI • In power from 1929-2000 • Centrist, moderate, nonideological (main goal is to win elections) • Corporatist structure – govt. allowed certain groups privileged access in exchange for their loyalty (patron-client system) • Military, peasant, labor organizations • Patron-clientelism– support from poorer, rural areas where patron-client system still in control • Patron-client system allowed PRI to remain in control as long as majority of population was rural-based, this began to change in the late 1980s

14. PAN (Right of Center) • Founded in 1939 • PAN support strongest in the north (wealthier) • Won several gubernatorial elections in north + mayoral elections in Mexico City prior to 2000 • PAN candidate Vicente Fox won 2000 presidential election, Felipe Calderon won 2006 election • Platform: • Regional autonomy for states • Less government intervention in the economy (laissez-faire) • Represents business interests • Supportive of Catholic Church • Most similar to Republican Party

15. PRD (Left of Center) • Promotes • social reforms • expansion of welfare programs • populist policies • economicnationalism • social justice

16. Voter Profiles • PRI – small town or rural, less educated, older, poorer • PAN – from the north, middle-class professional or business, urban, better educated, religious • PRD – younger, politically active, from the central states, some education, small town or urban workers

17. Cleavages • Urban vs. Rural • North vs. South – Majority of educated citizens and Mexico’s wealth lies in the north • Southern Mexico primarily populated by Amerindians, characterized and led by Zapatista Movement in Chiapas

18. Election of 2000 • PAN candidate Vicente Fox won presidency (43% of the vote compared to 36% garnered for PRI candidate Francisco Labastida) • 1st election where PRI candidate chosen through primaries rather than by president • PAN captured 208 of 500 deputies in the lower house; PRI captured 209 deputy seats • PAN won 46 senate seats; PRI won 60 senate seats • New, competitive election system has encouraged coalitions to form to the right & left of the PRI • Split in votes has encouraged gridlock, phenomenon unknown to Mexico under the old PRI-controlled governments • Election of 2006 – closely contested election, won by PAN candidate Felipe Calderon by narrow margin over PRD candidate Andres Lopez Obrador