Mexico held its elections on June 2nd. In addition to the presidential election, a new Congress was elected, set to take office on September 1st. The term of current President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) is set to end on October 1st, creating a one-month overlap in which the new Congress will serve together with AMLO, before Claudia Sheinbaum arrives to the presidency October 1st.
AMLO is not a lame duck, and is pushing an ambitious legislative agenda, including his controversial judicial reform. The concern of the critics of this reform is that it will give more power to AMLO’s MORENA party (already the predominant party of Mexico) and that it will take judicial independence from Mexico’s Supreme Court.
The Mexican Congress has two chambers, the Senado and the Cámara de Diputados. Let’s take a look at the upcoming configuration of each chamber.
THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES
The lower house is the Cámara de Diputados, the Chamber of Deputies, equivalent to the U.S. House of Representatives. It has 500 representatives, 300 elected by their districts, while 200 are chosen through proportional representation. In proportional representation, seats are allocated based on the percentage of votes received by a political party nationwide.
The terms for this chamber are 3 years.
The Cámara de Diputados meets here in the Palacio Legislativo de San Lázaro:
In the new Chamber of Deputies set to take office September 1st, MORENA’s coalition (including MORENA, the Labor Party and the Green Party) has 364 seats out of 500. That’s higher than the 334 seats which would give them a two-thirds super-majority.
Here’s the breakdown of seats by political party: MORENA: 236; Green Party: 77; Labor Party: 51; PAN: 72; PRI: 35; Movimiento Ciudadano: 27; PRD: 1; and 1 independent representative.
THE SENATE
The upper house is the Senado, the Senate, equivalent to the U.S. Senate. It has 128 senators.
Of those 128 senators, 3 are from each of Mexico’s 31 states and 3 are from Mexico City.
Political parties run candidates for the Senado in pairs. The pair which receives the most votes is elected to the Senado to represent that particular state. The state’s other senador is from the political party that came in second in that state’s senatorial election.
All these senadores account for 96 of the total.
The other 32 are chosen by proportional representation, based on the nationwide vote.
Mexican senators, like those in the U.S., have 6-year terms.
The Mexican Senate meets here:
In the new Senate set to take office September 1st, the MORENA coalition (MORENA, Green Party and Labor Party) has 83 seats out of 128. That’s two seats short of the 85 required for a two-thirds super-majority.
Here’s the breakdown of seats by political party: MORENA: 60, Green Party: 14; Labor Party: 9; PAN: 22 ; PRI: 16; Movimiento Ciudadano: 5 ; and the PRD: 2.