MEXICO
Parliamentary Chamber: Cámara de Diputados

ELECTIONS HELD IN 2000

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Chamber:
  Cámara de Diputados


Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):

  2 July 2000


Purpose of elections:

  Elections were held for all the seats in the Chamber of Deputies on the normal expiry of the members' term of office.


Background and outcome of elections:

  Mexican voters went to the polls on 2 July 2000 to choose President Ernest Zedillo's successor and elect 128 members of the Senate and 500 members of the Chamber of Deputies. Before the poll day, all analysts considered that these elections presented the biggest challenge, in Mexico's history, to the world's longest ruling party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), in power since its foundation in 1929.

For the first time, the elections were run by an independent and autonomous electoral body, the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE). Its president, Jose Woldenberg, said in a statement that 99.99 percent of the nation's 113,423 voting stations functioned normally, marking the highest percentage in Mexico's history. Turnout across the nation was extraordinarily high, some 64 per cent of the close to 59 million registered voters. Despite allegations of pressure and vote-buying, the presidential elections were widely seen as Mexico's fairest ever. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who went to Mexico as part of an international monitoring group, said election reforms had brought Mexican politics a new-found legitimacy.

The results for the Chamber of Deputies confirmed that Vicente Fox Quesada's centre-right National Action Party (PAN) candidates had won 208 seats, up from 117 in the outgoing chamber. The ruling PRI won 211 seats, losing 36. The leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) took 52 seats, losing 64.

As for the Senate, the PRI won 60 seats, down from the 75 it had had in the outgoing one while the PAN won 46 seats, 15 more than in the previous term. The PRD won 15 seats, the same as it had won in the previous elections.

The results of the Presidential race saw the victory of the opposition candidate Mr Vicente Fox over his PRI rival, Mr. Francisco Labastida. This victory put an end to 71 years of political domination by the PRI.

After he was officially designated President-elect, on 3 August 2000, Mr Fox called for national reconciliation, urging the parties he had defeated to join his government. He took office in December 2000.

STATISTICS
Round no 1 (2 July 2000): Elections results  
Number of registered electors 58 782 737
Voters 37 424 301 (64 %)
Blank or invalid ballot papers 870 525
Valid votes 36 553 776

Round no 1: Distribution of votes  
Political Group Votes %
Alliance for Change 13 480 774 36.88
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) 12 828 034 36.55
Alliance for Mexico 6 526 556 18.59
Others 1 398 348 3.98

Round no 1: Distribution of seats  
Political Group Total Proportional Majority
Alliance for Change 221 80 141
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) 211 80 131
Alliance for Mexico 68 40 28
Others 0 0 0

Comments:
  The Alliance for Change comprises the National Action Party and the Green Party
The Alliance for Mexico comprises the Party of the Democratic Revolution and the Labour Party

Distribution of seats according to sex:  
Men: 420
Women: 80
Percent of women: 16.00 %


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Copyright © 2000 Inter-Parliamentary Union