uerrero,
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: President Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (since 1
December 1994); note - the president is both the chief of state and
head of government
head of government: President Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (since 1
December 1994); note - the president is both the chief of state and
head of government
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president with consent of the Senate
elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term;
election last held 21 August 1994 (next to be held in July or August
2000)
election results: Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon elected president;
percent of vote-Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (PRI) 50.18%, Cuauhtemoc
CARDENAS Solorzano (PRD) 17.08%, Diego FERNANDEZ DE CEVALLOS (PAN)
26.69%, other 6.049%

Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress or Congreso de la
Union consists of the Senate or Camara de Senadores (128 seats,
expanded from 64 seats at the last election; half are elected by
popular vote to serve six-year terms, and half are allocated or on
basis of each party's popular vote) and the Chamber of Deputies or
Camara de Diputados (500 seats; 300 members are directly elected by
popular vote to serve three-year terms; remaining 200 seats are
allocated on the basis of each party's popular vote, also for a
three-year term)
elections: Senate-last held 6 July 1997 for one-quarter of the seats;
Chamber of Deputies-last held 6 July 1997 (the next legislative
elections will coincide with the presidential election in July or
August 2000)
election results: Senate-percent of vote by party-NA; seats by
party-PRI 77, PAN 33, PRD 16, PVEM 1, PT 1; note-the distribution of
seats as of May 1998 is as follows-PRI 77, PAN 31, PRD 15, PT 1,
independents 4; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party-PRI
39%, PAN 27%, PRD 26%; seats by party-PRI 239, PRD 125,