Table 3
Features of Electoral Reform in Mexico, 1977-96
A. Issues of Representation
| Year | Registration of Parties | Structure of Congress | Other |
| 1977 | · Established conditional registration to integrate new left parties
· Those receiving 1.5% in federal elections retain registration |
· Created 100 seats in Chamber of
Deputies reserved for minority parties chosen by PR
· Increased total Chamber size to 400 |
|
| 1986 | · Conditional registration abolished | · Total Chamber size increased to
500, 200 chosen by PR
· PR seats now open to majority party · governability clause introduced |
· Federal District legislative assembly created |
| 1989-90 | · Conditional registration re-established
· Limits imposed on electoral coalitions |
· Governability clause modified; if largest party, a party with 35% gets a majority of the Chamber; perfect PR if none get 35% | |
| 1993 | · Coalition formation made very difficult | · Senate doubled to 128, 4 from
each state; majority party in a state
gets three seats, first minority the
other seat;
· Governability clause rescinded; · No party allowed more than 63% of Chamber of Deputies |
· Art. 82 of constitution which prevented Mexican-born children of foreign-born parents from becoming president rescinded, effective in 2000. |
| 1994 | |||
| 1996 | · Registration to be lost if party fails to reach 2% of vote | · Overrepresentation of largest
party in Chamber of Deputies limited to 8%
· No party allowed more than 60% of Chamber of Deputies · Senate reformed so that 32 senators chosen by PR in a national constituency |
· Federal District head of government to be elected
· Some power devolved to Federal District from central government |
B. Issues Regarding the Integrity of the Electoral Process
| Year | Electoral Organs | Electoral Process | Other |
| 1977 | · Federal Electoral Commission
membership to include Sec. of Interior, one member of each house of
congress, one from each registered
party, and notary public
· Electoral congresses composed of the elected congress members certify own elections |
· Permitted Supreme Court to investigate elections and revise resolutions of electoral colleges | · Structure for electoral organs in states mandated to parallel the federal agency |
| 1986 | · Federal Electoral Commission membership modified to link party representation to most recent electoral performance proportionally | · Tribunal of Electoral Disputes established to provide "jurisdictional" perspective on disputed elections; electoral colleges not bound by its decisions | · District electoral committees permitted to recount votes |
| 1989-90 | · Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) created; membership included Sec. of Interior, two representatives from each chamber (one majority, one minority), and representatives of each party in proportion to their share of vote (up to four)--still a government majority | · Federal Electoral Tribunal created with power to oblige electoral colleges to annul an election; president selects magistrates with approval of congress | · IFE to be a professional bureaucracy
· voter registration list (padrón) to be completely redone |
| 1993 | · congress will no longer certify its own election in electoral colleges; IFE to certify election of congress | · Parties permitted access to original documents used to compose
padrón
· Federal Election Registry to conduct campaign to complete voter registration and distribution of voter IDs · Vote counting simplied; district councils will make results available at precinct level for first time; · National, but not international observers | |
| 1994 | · IFE made more autonomous; magistrate councilors replaced by citizen councilors appointed through concensus of parties; party representatives on IFE lose vote | · electoral fraud criminalized and an Electoral Prosecutor's Office created | · "foreign visitors" allowed to observe elections |
| 1996 | · IFE restructured; Sec. of Interior and representatives of chambers lose vote; IFE General Council to be nine voting members, all "citizen councilors" | · electoral law put under Supreme
Court jurisdication
· Federal Electoral Tribunal restructured |
C. Issues Regarding Electoral Equity
| Year | Access to Media | Campaign Spending | Other |
| 1977 | · Federal Electoral Commission empowered to coordinate parties' access to media and provide some funding | · Federal Electoral Commission empowered to provide modest funding | |
| 1986 | |||
| 1989-90 | · Increased public funding of parties | · Greater right of access to information for parties | |
| 1993 | · IFE to arrange for access to radio and TV, partly paid for by state, partly by parites | · Principle of campaign spending limits established; IFE responsible to set limits; public financing to increase and be set in part on previous performance of parties | |
| 1994 | |||
| 1996 | · Media access increased and determined in part by past performance | · Public financing greatly increased; no more than 10 percent of campaign financing can be private; public financing distributed according to formula favoring larger parties |