MÉXICO
— Officially: Estados Unidos Mexicanos.
— Seat of government: México.
— Status: Democratic.
— Structure: The president is elected directly by plurality. The legislature (Congreso de la Unión) comprises the Cámara de Diputados, elected by plurality in geographical constituencies, modified by party-list proportional representation, and the Senado, elected in the provinces (estados), with two seats to the party winning a plurality, one to the party finishing second, and the whole modified by party-list proportional representation.
— Governing party: Movimiento Regeneración Nacional; supported in the Congreso by Partido Encuentro Social and Partido del Trabajo.
— Head of government: Andrés Manuel López Obrador, MoReNa, president (since 2018).
— Other congressional parties: Partido Acción Nacional; Partido Revolucionario Institucional; Movimiento Ciudadano; Partido de la Revolución Democrática; Partido Verde Ecologista de México.
— Assessment: The PRI, under various names, ruled for seventy-six years (1924-2000), while holding and fixing elections. It was founded by jefe máximo Plutarco Elías Calles (1924-34) as the Partido Nacional Revolucionario in 1929, became the Partido de la Revolutión Mexicana, and the PRI in 1946. The presidential victory of Vicente Fox (2000-6) of the PAN in 2000 was not the first opposition victory, merely the first acknowledged. Felipe Calderón (2006-12), also of the PAN, won a narrow victory over López Obrador of the PRD in 2006 to succeed Fox, with Congress again divided. López Obrador challenged the official result. In 2012, Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-8) of the PRI won the presidency over López Obrador and Josefina Vázquez Mota of the PAN; the PRI won a plurality in Congress. But in 2018, López Obrador swept to a landslide majority win, over Ricardo Anaya of the PAN and José Antonio Meade of the PRI, taking all states but one. His new party, MoReNa, won a majority in the Cámara de Diputados and a near-majority in the Senado. For several years, México has been experiencing dramatic violence related to drug organizations, and some municipalities have effectively been under criminal control.
— FH: 2-3, free. Econ: 6.78 (55), flawed democracy.
— Updated: 2019 January 11.
O.T. FORD