nment
_#_Long-form name: United Mexican States

_#_Type: 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, Colima,
Distrito Federal*, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco,
Mexico, Michoacan, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla,
Queretaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco,
Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, Yucatan, Zacatecas

_#_Independence: 16 September 1810 (from Spain)

_#_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

_#_National holiday: Independence Day, 16 September (1810)

_#_Executive branch: president, Cabinet

_#_Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress (Congreso de la
Union) consists of an upper chamber or Senate (Camara de Senadores)
and a lower chamber or Chamber of Deputies (Camara de Diputados)

_#_Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice (Suprema Corte de
Justicia)

_#_Leaders:

Chief of State and Head of Government--President Carlos SALINAS de
Gortari (since 1 December 1988)

_#_Political parties and leaders: (recognized parties)
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Luis Donaldo COLOSIO Murrieta;
National Action Party (PAN), Luis ALVAREZ;
Popular Socialist Party (PPS), Indalecio SAYAGO Herrera;
Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), Cuauhtemoc CARDENAS Solorzano;
Cardenist Front for the National Reconstruction Party (PFCRN), Rafael
AGUILAR Talamantes;
Authentic Party of the Mexican Revolution (PARM), Carlos Enrique CANTU
Rosas

_#_Suffrage: universal and compulsory (but not enforced) at age 18

_#_Elections:

President--last held on 6 July 1988 (next to be held September
1994); results--Carlos SALINAS de Gortari (PRI) 50.74%,
Cuauhtemoc CARDENAS Solorzano (FDN) 31.06%,
Manuel CLOUTHIER (PAN) 16.81%; other 1.39%; note--several of the smaller
parties ran a common candidate under a coalition called the National
Democratic Front (FDN);

Senate--last held on 6 July 1988 (next to be held mid-year
1991); results--PRI 94%, FDN (now PRD) 6%;
seats--(64 total) number of seats by party NA;

Chamber of Deputies--last held on 6 Jul