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Name of country:
conventional long form: United Mexican States
conventional short form: Mexico
local long form: Estados Unidos Mexicanos
local short form: Mexico

Data code: MX

Type of government: federal republic operating under a centralized
government

Capital: Mexico

Administrative divisions: 31 states (estados, singular - estado)
and 1 federal district* (distrito federal); Aguascalientes, Baja
California, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua,
Coahuila de Zaragoza, Colima, Distrito Federal*, Durango,
Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico, Michoacan de Ocampo,
Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro de Arteaga,
Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas,
Tlaxcala, Veracruz-Llave, Yucatan, Zacatecas

Independence: 16 September 1810 (from Spain)

National holiday: Independence Day, 16 September (1810)

Constitution: 5 February 1917

Legal system: mixture of US constitutional theory and civil law
system; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction, with reservations

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory (but not
enforced)

Executive branch:
chief of state and head of government: President Ernesto ZEDILLO
Ponce de Leon (since 1 December 1994) was elected for a six-year
term by popular vote; election last held 21 August 1994 (next to be
held NA 2000); results - Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (PRI) 50.18%,
Cuauhtemoc CARDENAS Solorzano (PRD) 17.08%, Diego FERNANDEZ DE
CEVALLOS (PAN) 26.69%; other 6.049%
cabinet: Cabinet was appointed by the president

Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress (Congreso de la
Union)
Senate (Camara de Senadores): elections last held 21 August 1994
(next to be held NA July 1997 for one-quarter of the seats); results
- percent of vote by party NA; seats in full Senate - (128 total;
Senate expanded from 64 seats at the last election) PRI 93, PRD 25,
PAN 10
Chamber of Deputies (Camara de Diputados): elections last held 24
August 1994 (next to be held NA July 1997); results - percent of
vote by party NA; seats - (500 total) PRI 300, PAN 119, PRD 71, PT 10

Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de
Justicia), judges are appointed by the president with consent of the
Senate

Political parties and leaders: (recognized parties) Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI), Santi