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Congress of the Union

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
General Congress of the
United Mexican States

Congreso General de los
Estados Unidos Mexicanos
LXVI Legislature
Seal of the Congress
Type
Type
HousesSenate of the Republic
Chamber of Deputies
History
Founded28 September 1821(1821-09-28)
Leadership
Gerardo Fernández Noroña(MORENA)
since 1 September 2024(2024-09-01)
Ifigenia Martínez y Hernández(MORENA)
since 1 September 2024(2024-09-01)
Structure
Seats628
(500 Deputies)
(128 Senators)
Senatepolitical groups
Government(86)
  • MORENA(62)
  • PVEM(14)
  • PT(9)
  • IND(1)

Opposition (42)

Chamber of Deputiespolitical groups
Government(364)

Opposition (136)

AuthorityTitle III, Chapter II of the
Political Constitution of theUnited Mexican States
Salary$119,770 pesos (Senator)
$99,071 pesos (Deputy)
Elections
LastSenateelection
2 June 2024(2024-06-02)
2 June 2024(2024-06-02)
NextSenateelection
2 June 2030(2030-06-02)
6 June 2027(2027-06-06)
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)
San Lázaro Building, the Chamber of Deputies, Congress of the Union

TheCongress of the Union(Spanish:Congreso de la Unión,pronounced[koŋˈɡɾesoðelawˈnjon]), formally known as theGeneral Congress of the United Mexican States(Congreso General de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the legislature of thefederal government of Mexico.It consists of two chambers: theSenate of the Republicand theChamber of Deputies.Its 628 members (128 senators and 500 deputies) meet inMexico City.

Structure

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The Congress is abicameralbody, consisting of two chambers: theSenate of the Republicand theChamber of Deputies.Its structure and responsibilities are defined in the Third Title, Second Chapter, Articles 50 to 79 of the1917 Constitution.Theupper chamberis the Senate,Cámara de SenadoresorSenado.It comprises 128 seats: 96 members are elected byplurality 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 byproportional representationin a single country-wide constituency. Senators serve six-year terms.

Thelower houseis the Chamber of Deputies, orCámara 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 thefive constituenciesestablished 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

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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

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TheComisión 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

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It is conventional to refer to eachLegislatureby theRoman numeralof 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 the1857 Constitution.

Early in the 20th century, the revolutionary leaderFrancisco I. Maderopopularized the sloganSufragio Efectivo – no Reelección( "Effective suffrage, no reelection" ). In keeping with that long-held principle, and until 2014, the1917 Constitutionstated that "Deputies and Senators could not be reelected for the next immediate term".[2]

Reelection

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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 thegeneral 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

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Senate

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Party Constituency Proportional Total
seats
+/–
Votes % Seats Votes % Seats
National Regeneration Movement 661,068 1.18 2 21,261,577 37.50 13 55 New
National Action Party 600,423 1.07 1 9,971,804 17.59 6 23 Decrease15
Institutional Revolutionary Party 3,855,984 6.86 0 9,013,658 15.90 6 13 Decrease44
Party of the Democratic Revolution 96,393 0.17 0 2,984,861 5.27 2 8 Decrease15
Citizens' Movement 570,774 1.01 2 2,654,452 4.68 2 7 Increase6
Ecologist Green Party 1,198,011 2.13 0 2,528,175 4.46 2 7 Decrease3
Labor Party 51,260 0.09 0 2,164,442 3.82 1 6 Increase2
Social Encounter Party 28,878 0.05 0 1,320,559 2.33 0 8 New
New Alliance Party 593,507 1.06 0 1,307,015 2.31 0 1 Steady0
MORENA–PT–PES[a] 23,754,422 42.24 53
PAN–PRD–MC[b] 14,222,046 25.29 25
PRI–PVEM–PNA[c] 7,145,869 12.71 13
Independents 1,109,149 1.97 1,109,149 1.97 0 Steady0
Write-ins 30,568 0.05 31,820 0.06
Invalid/blank votes 2,319,489 4.12 2,344,357 4.14
Total 56,237,841 100 96 56,691,869 100 32 128 0
Registered voters/turnout 89,994,039 62.49 89,994,039 63.52
Source:INE

aOf the 53 seats won by the MORENA-PT–PES alliance, 40 were taken by MORENA, 8 by the PES, and 5 by the PT

bOf the 25 seats won by the PAN–PRD–MC alliance, 16 were taken by the PAN, 6 by the PRD, and 3 by the MC

cOf the 13 seats won by the PRI–PVEM–PNA alliance, 7 were taken by the PRI, 5 by the PVEM, and 1 by the PNA

Chamber of Deputies

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Party District Proportional Total
seats
+/–
Votes % Seats Votes % Seats
National Regeneration Movement 709,840 1.27 8 20,972,573 37.25 84 189 Increase154
National Action Party 697,595 1.25 5 10,096,588 17.93 41 83 Decrease25
Institutional Revolutionary Party 4,351,824 7.78 1 9,310,523 16.54 38 45 Decrease158
Party of the Democratic Revolution 124,808 0.22 0 2,967,969 5.27 12 21 Decrease35
Ecologist Green Party 1,429,802 2.55 0 2,695,405 4.79 11 16 Decrease31
Citizens' Movement 268,876 0.48 0 2,485,198 4.41 10 27 Increase1
Labor Party 67,429 0.12 0 2,211,753 3.93 4 61 Increase55
New Alliance Party 705,432 1.26 0 1,391,376 2.47 0 2 Decrease8
Social Encounter Party 54,906 0.10 0 1,353,941 2.40 0 56 Increase48
MORENA–PT–PES[a] 23,513,132 42.01 210
PAN–PRD–MC[b] 14,381,872 25.70 63
PRI–PVEM–PNA[c] 6,862,372 12.26 13
Independents 539,347 0.96 0 539,347 0.96 0 0 Decrease1
Write-ins 32,625 0.06 32,959 0.06
Invalid/blank votes 2,227,573 3.98 2,242,615 3.98
Total 55,967,433 100 300 56,300,247 100 200 500 0
Registered voters/turnout 89,994,039 62.20 89,994,039 63.21
Source:INE

aOf the 210 seats won by the MORENA-PT–PES alliance, 97 were taken by MORENA, 57 by the PT, and 56 by the PES

bOf the 63 seats won by the PAN–PRD–MC alliance, 37 were taken by the PAN, 17 by the MC, and 9 by the PRD

cOf the 13 seats won by the PRI–PVEM–PNA alliance, 6 were taken by the PRI, 5 by the PVEM, and 2 by the PNA

See also

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References

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  1. ^"El proyecto - Elección 2012 México: Elecciones, Candidatos a la Presidencia, encuestas electorales".Archived fromthe originalon 23 August 2011.Retrieved29 August2011.
  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 fromthe originalon 14 October 2003.Retrieved2 April2015.
  4. ^Becerra, Bertha (20 May 2014)."Habría reelección de diputados y senadores a partir del 2018".La Prensa(in Spanish). Organización Editorial Mexicana.Retrieved1 April2015.
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