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MEXICO
Cámara de Diputados (Chamber of Deputies)
ELECTIONS IN 2009

Compare data for parliamentary chambers in the Last elections module

A historical Archive of past election results for this chamber can be found on a separate page

Parliament name (generic / translated) Congreso de la Unión / Congress of the Union
Structure of parliament Bicameral
Chamber name (generic / translated) Cámara de Diputados / Chamber of Deputies
Related chamber (for bicameral parliaments) Cámara de Senadores / Senate
BACKGROUND
Dates of election / renewal (from/to) 5 July 2009
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.
At stake in the July 2009 elections were 500 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.

In the previous elections held in July 2006 in parallel with the elections to the Senate and the presidency the National Action Party (PAN) won 206 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. The Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) and Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) took 126 and 104 seats respectively. Five other parties won less than 20 seats each. Mr. Felipe Calderon (PAN) won the presidential elections pledging to tackle crime.

Upon assuming the post in December 2006 President Calderon launched a war on drug gangs by deploying thousands of troops. However drug-related violence remained rampant killing over 6 000 people in 2008 and the first half of 2009. The global economic crisis that originated in the United States severely affected Mexico. Although President Calderon responded by implementing tax cuts for business and investing in infrastructure projects Mexico's economy was expected to shrink by 5.5 per cent in 2009.

In April 2009 the country was hit by an outbreak of swine flu (H1N1 influenza). By the end of June it had killed over 100 people and affected some 10 000 people. Although the election campaign officially started on 3 May most parties initially refrained from holding rallies due to the epidemic. In the run-up to the polls rallies were held in accordance with government health guidelines requiring participants to stay at least seven feet away from each other.

In the 2009 elections the PAN was once again challenged by the PRI. The latter had dominated the country's presidency from 1929 until the election of Mr. Vicente Fox (PAN) in 2000. PRI's new leader Ms. Beatriz Elena Paredes Rangel emphasized that the party had learned from its errors referring to past corruption problems. The PRI used a slogan "proven experience new attitude" recalling over seven decades of the party's leadership. It pledged to provide new economic policies to tackle the economic crisis.

President Calderon pledged to continue to tackle crime. According to the government crime-related deaths dropped by 26 per cent in the first trimester of 2009. He urged voters' to allow the PAN to continue to work for economic growth job creation and public safety.

The PRD led by Mr. Jesús Ortega also vowed to tackle organized crime. However it was reportedly losing ground due to internal splits.

Polling took place without major incidents in most areas except in the state of Guerrero where 11 people including a PRD town councillor and his family were killed.

Turnout was reportedly low among the 78 million registered voters.

The PRI won a decisive victory securing 237 seats up from 104. The PAN came in second with 143 seats losing 63. The PRD took 71 seats losing 55. Of all the eight parties represented in the outgoing Chamber only the Social Democratic and Peasant Alternative Party (ALT) failed to win seats. 141 women were elected.

On 29 August the newly elected Chamber of Deputies held its first session and elected Mr. Francisco Ramírez Acuña (PAN) as its new Speaker.

STATISTICS
Voter turnout
Round no 15 July 2009
Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes



Notes
Distribution of seats
Round no 1
Political Group Total Majority seats Proportional seats Number of women
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) 237 184 53 53
National Action Party (PAN) 143 70 73 48
Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) 71 39 32 21
Green Party of Mexico (PVEM) 21 4 17 9
Labour Party (PT) 13 3 10 4
New Alliance Party (NA) 9 0 9 4
Convergence Party (CONV) 6 0 6 2
Distribution of seats according to sex
Men
Women
Percent of women
359
141
28.20%
Distribution of seats according to age
Distribution of seats according to profession
Comments
Sources:
- IPU Group (18.07.2009 02.09.2009 01.01.2010 19.03.2010)
- http://www3.diputados.gob.mx/camara/001_diputados/005_grupos_parlamentarios

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