GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

The United Mexican States are a federation whose government is representative, democratic and republican based on a congressional system according to the 1917 Constitution. The constitution establishes three levels of government: the federal Union, the state governments and the municipal governments. All officials at the three levels are elected by voters through first-past-the-post plurality, proportional representation or are appointed by other elected officials.

The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) held an almost hegemonic power in Mexican politics since 1929. Since 1977 consecutive electoral reforms allowed opposition parties to win more posts at the local and federal level. This process culminated in the 2000 presidential elections in which Vicente Fox, candidate of the National Action Party (PAN), became the first non-PRI president to be elected in more than 70 years.

In 2006, Felipe Calderón of the PAN faced Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the  Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) in a very close election (0.58% difference). On September 6, 2006, Felipe Calderón was declared President-elect by the electoral tribunal. His cabinet was sworn in at midnight on December 1, 2006 and Calderón was handed the presidential band by outgoing Vicente Fox at Los Pinos.