Chamber:
	Cámara de Senadores
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	2 July 2000
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for all seats in the Senate.
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 209 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	37 305 557 (63 %)

Round no 1: Distribution of votes
Political Group	Votes	%
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)	12 820 652	36.33
Alliance for Change	13 525 534	38.33
Alliance for Mexico	6 616 826	18.75
Others	1 463 939	4.00

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)	58
Alliance for Change	53
Alliance for Mexico	17
Others	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:	108
Women:	20
Percent of women:	15.63