Congress of the Union

General Congress of the
United Mexican States

Congreso General de los
Estados Unidos Mexicanos
General Congress of the; United Mexican States ; Congreso General de los; Estados Unidos Mexicanos
LXVI Legislature
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	Senate of the Republic; Chamber of Deputies
History
Founded	28 September 1821
Leadership
President of the Senate	Gerardo Fernández Noroña (Morena) ; since 1 September 2024
President of the Chamber of Deputies	Sergio Gutiérrez Luna (Morena) ; since 8 October 2024
Structure
Seats	628; (500 Deputies); (128 Senators)
Senate political groups	Government (87) Morena (66); PVEM (14); PT (6); No party (1); Opposition (41) PAN (21); PRI (14); MC (5); No party (1);
Chamber of Deputies political groups	Government (364) Morena (253); PVEM (62); PT (49); Opposition (136) PAN (71); PRI (37); MC (27); Independent (1);
Authority	Title III, Chapter II of the; Political Constitution of the United Mexican States
Salary	$131,874 pesos (Senator); $99,457 pesos (Deputy)
Elections
Last Senate election	2 June 2024
Last Chamber of Deputies election	2 June 2024
Next Senate election	2 June 2030
Next Chamber of Deputies election	6 June 2027
Motto
	La Patria Es Primero (The Fatherland Is First)
Meeting place
	Senate Building; Mexico City
	San Lázaro Building; Mexico City
Website
	Senate website; Chamber of Deputies website
Constitution
	Mexican Constitution of 1917
Rules
	"Organic Law of the General Congress of the United Mexican States" (Spanish); "Rules for the Interior Government of the General Congress of the United Mexican States" (Spanish)

The Congress of the Union (Spanish: Congreso de la Unión, pronounced [koŋˈɡɾeso ðe lawˈnjon]), formally known as the General Congress of the United Mexican States (Congreso General de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the legislature of the federal government of Mexico. It consists of two chambers: the Senate of the Republic and the Chamber of Deputies. Its 628 members (128 senators and 500 deputies) meet in Mexico City.

Structure

The Congress is a bicameral body, consisting of two chambers: the Senate of the Republic and the Chamber of Deputies. Its structure and responsibilities are defined in the Third Title, Second Chapter, Articles 50 to 79 of the 1917 Constitution. The upper chamber is the Senate, Cámara de Senadores or Senado. It comprises 128 seats: 96 members are elected by plurality vote, with three members being elected in each state (two seats are awarded to the winning party or coalition and one to the first runner-up); the other 32 members are elected by proportional representation in a single country-wide constituency. Senators serve six-year terms.

The lower house is the Chamber of Deputies, or Cámara de Diputados. It has 500 seats; 300 members are elected by plurality vote and the other 200 members are elected according to proportional representation (PR), through a system of regional lists (one for each of the five constituencies established for the election by law).^[1] Deputies serve three-year terms.

The 200 PR seats are distributed generally without taking into account the 300 plurality seats (parallel voting). Since 1996, however, a party cannot get more seats overall than 8% above its result for the PR seats (a party must win 42% of the votes for the PR seats to achieve an overall majority).

There are two exceptions to that rule. A party can lose only PR seats by that rule (not plurality seats). Also, a party cannot get more than 300 seats overall (even if it has more than 52% of the votes for the PR seats).

Powers

The powers invested in Congress are defined in article 73 of the Constitution. Among its powers, Congress can admit new States into the Union, alter the allocation of powers granted to the federal government, lay and collect taxes, declare war (upon request of the Government), provide for and maintain the Union's armed forces, and coordinate economic activities.

Article 74, 75 and 76 of the Constitution state that each Chamber can address specific matters. In fact, some powers are reserved either to the Chamber of Deputies or to the Chamber of Senators, making the Congress of the Union an example of imperfect bicameralism. For example, the former can approve the federal budget submitted by the Government, while the latter has the power to analyze the foreign policy of the Government, approve or dismiss the Presidential nominations of the Attorney General, Supreme Court Justices, diplomatic agents, general consuls, and senior civil and military officials.

Permanent Committee

The Comisión Permanente del Congreso de la Unión, translated variously as the Permanent Committee or Standing Committee, is a body of 19 deputies and 18 senators that is responsible for tasks relating to the Congress when it is in recess.

Term

It is conventional to refer to each Legislature by the Roman numeral of its term. Thus, the current Congress (whose term lasts from 2024 to 2027) is known as the "LXVI Legislature"; the previous Congress (whose term lasted from 2018 to 2021) was the "LXIV Legislature", and so forth. The I Legislature of Congress was the one that met right after the Constituent Congress that enacted the 1857 Constitution.

Early in the 20th century, the revolutionary leader Francisco I. Madero popularized the slogan Sufragio Efectivo – no Reelección ("Effective suffrage, no reelection"). In keeping with that long-held principle, and until 2014, the 1917 Constitution stated that "Deputies and Senators could not be reelected for the next immediate term".^[2]

Reelection

On February 10, 2014, Article 59 of the Mexican Constitution was amended to allow reelection to the legislative bodies for the first time. Starting with the general election of 2018, deputies and senators are allowed to run for reelection.^[3] Members of the Chamber of Deputies may serve up to four terms of three years each while members of the Senate may serve two terms of six years each; in total, members of both houses will be allowed to remain in office for a total of 12 years.^[4]

Last election

Senate



Party or alliance				Constituency			Party-list			Total seats	+/–
Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats	+/–
	Sigamos Haciendo Historia		National Regeneration Movement	7,526,453	13.19	21	24,484,943	42.48	14	60	+5
			Ecologist Green Party of Mexico	2,298,726	4.03	4	5,357,959	9.30	3	14	+8
			Labor Party	1,215,172	2.13	0	3,214,708	5.58	2	9	+3
			Common candidates^[a]	21,731,737	38.08	39				–	–
		Total		32,772,088	57.43	64	33,057,610	57.36	19	83	+14
	Fuerza y Corazón por México		National Action Party	1,148,920	2.01	1	10,107,537	17.54	6	22	–1
			Institutional Revolutionary Party	316,636	0.55	0	6,530,305	11.33	4	16	+2
			Party of the Democratic Revolution	76,082	0.13	0	1,363,012	2.36	0	2	–6
			Common candidates^[b]	16,244,373	28.47	29				–	–
		Total		17,786,011	31.17	30	18,000,854	31.23	10	40	+2
	Citizens' Movement			6,460,220	11.32	2	6,528,238	11.33	3	5	–2
Non-registered candidates				46,230	0.08	0	47,092	0.08	0	0	0
Total				57,064,549	100.00	96	57,633,794	100.00	32	128	0

Valid votes				57,064,549	96.08		57,633,794	96.05
Invalid/blank votes				2,326,742	3.92		2,369,932	3.95
Total votes				59,391,291	100.00		60,003,726	100.00
Source: INE (PR)

Chamber of Deputies



Party or alliance				Constituency			Party-list			Total seats	+/–
Party or alliance				Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats	+/–
	Sigamos Haciendo Historia		National Regeneration Movement	3,686,979	6.48	37	24,286,317	42.40	75	236	+38
			Ecologist Green Party of Mexico	676,092	1.19	0	4,993,988	8.72	20	77	+34
			Labor Party	507,604	0.89	0	3,254,718	5.68	13	51	+14
			Common candidates^[c]	27,446,014	48.26	219				–	–
		Total		32,316,689	56.82	256	32,535,023	56.80	108	364	+86
	Fuerza y Corazón por México		National Action Party	372,670	0.66	3	10,049,375	17.55	40	72	–42
			Institutional Revolutionary Party	101,574	0.18	0	6,623,796	11.56	26	35	–35
			Party of the Democratic Revolution	20,374	0.04	0	1,449,660	2.53	0	1	–14
			Common candidates^[d]	17,493,425	30.76	39				–	–
		Total		17,988,043	31.63	42	18,122,831	31.64	66	108	–91
	Citizens' Movement			6,446,537	11.34	1	6,497,404	11.34	26	27	+4
	Independents			72,012	0.13	1	72,012	0.13	0	1	+1
Non-registered candidates				48,871	0.09	0	49,329	0.09	0	0	0
Total				56,872,152	100.00	300	57,276,599	100.00	200	500	0

Valid votes				56,872,152	96.34		57,276,599	96.32
Invalid/blank votes				2,162,171	3.66		2,189,869	3.68
Total votes				59,034,323	100.00		59,466,468	100.00
Source: INE (PR)

References

^ "El proyecto - Elección 2012 México: Elecciones, Candidatos a la Presidencia, encuestas electorales". Archived from the original on 23 August 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
^ Constitution of 1917, articles 50, 59.
^ "Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Artículo 59". Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas de la UNAM (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 14 October 2003. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
^ Becerra, Bertha (20 May 2014). "Habría reelección de diputados y senadores a partir del 2018". La Prensa (in Spanish). Organización Editorial Mexicana. Retrieved 1 April 2015.

Notes

^ Of the elected candidates, 25 belong to the National Regeneration Movement, 7 to the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico, and 7 to the Labor Party.
^ Of the elected candidates, 15 belong to the National Action Party, 12 to the Institutional Revolutionary Party, and 2 to the Party of the Democratic Revolution.
^ Of the elected candidates, 124 belong to the National Regeneration Movement, 57 to the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico, and 38 to the Labor Party.
^ Of the elected candidates, 29 belong to the National Action Party, 9 to the Institutional Revolutionary Party, and 1 to the Party of the Democratic Revolution.

External links

[1] "El proyecto - Elección 2012 México: Elecciones, Candidatos a la Presidencia, encuestas electorales". Archived from the original on 23 August 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2011.

[2] Constitution of 1917, articles 50, 59.

[3] "Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Artículo 59". Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas de la UNAM (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 14 October 2003. Retrieved 2 April 2015.

[4] Becerra, Bertha (20 May 2014). "Habría reelección de diputados y senadores a partir del 2018". La Prensa (in Spanish). Organización Editorial Mexicana. Retrieved 1 April 2015.

[5] Of the elected candidates, 25 belong to the National Regeneration Movement, 7 to the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico, and 7 to the Labor Party.

[6] Of the elected candidates, 15 belong to the National Action Party, 12 to the Institutional Revolutionary Party, and 2 to the Party of the Democratic Revolution.

[7] Of the elected candidates, 124 belong to the National Regeneration Movement, 57 to the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico, and 38 to the Labor Party.

[8] Of the elected candidates, 29 belong to the National Action Party, 9 to the Institutional Revolutionary Party, and 1 to the Party of the Democratic Revolution.

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