Country name:
conventional long form: United Mexican States
conventional short form: Mexico
local long form: Estados Unidos Mexicanos
local short form: Mexico

Data code: MX

Government type: federal republic operating under a centralized government

Capital: Mexico

Administrative divisions: 31 states (estados, singular—estado) and 1 federal district* (distrito federal); Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila de Zaragoza, Colima, Distrito Federal*, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Mexico, Michoacan de Ocampo, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro de Arteaga, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz-Llave, Yucatan, Zacatecas

Independence: 16 September 1810 (from Spain)

National holiday: Independence Day, 16 September (1810)

Constitution: 5 February 1917

Legal system: mixture of US constitutional theory and civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory (but not enforced)

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (since 1 December 1994); note—the president is both the chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (since 1 December 1994); note—the president is both the chief of state and head of government
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president with consent of the Senate
elections: president elected by popular vote for a six-year term; election last held 21 August 1994 (next to be held in July or August 2000)
election results: Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon elected president; percent of vote—Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (PRI) 50.18%, Cuauhtemoc CARDENAS Solorzano (PRD) 17.08%, Diego FERNANDEZ DE CEVALLOS (PAN) 26.69%, other 6.05%

Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress or Congreso de la Union consists of the Senate or Camara de Senadores (128 seats; half are elected by popular vote to serve six-year terms, and half are allocated on the basis of each party's popular vote) and the Chamber of Deputies or Camara de Diputados (500 seats; 300 members are directly elected by popular vote to serve three-year terms; remaining 200 members are allocated on the basis of each party's popular vote, also for three-year terms)
elections: Senate—last held 6 July 1997 for one-quarter of the seats; Chamber of Deputies—last held 6 July 1997 (the next legislative elections will coincide with the presidential election in July or August 2000)
election results: Senate—percent of vote by party—NA; seats by party—PRI 77, PAN 33, PRD 16, PVEM 1, PT 1; note—the distribution of seats as of May 1998 is as follows—PRI 77, PAN 31, PRD 15, PT 1, independents 4; Chamber of Deputies—percent of vote by party—PRI 39%, PAN 27%, PRD 26%; seats by party—PRI 239, PRD 125, PAN 121, PVEM 8, PT 7; note—the distribution of seats as of May 1998 is as follows—PRI 237, PRD 127, PAN 120, PT 7, PVEM 6, independents 3

Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de Justicia (judges are appointed by the president with consent of the Senate)

Political parties and leaders: recognized parties—Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI [Mariano PALACIOS Alocer]; National Action Party or PAN [Felipe CALDERON Hinojosa]; Party of the Democratic Revolution or PRD [Andres Manuel LOPEZ Obrador]; Mexican Green Ecologist Party or PVEM [Jorge GONZALEZ Torres]; Workers Party or PT [Alberto ANAYA Gutierrez]

Political pressure groups and leaders: Roman Catholic Church; Confederation of Mexican Workers or CTM; Confederation of Industrial Chambers or CONCAMIN; Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce or CONCANACO; National Peasant Confederation or CNC; Revolutionary Workers Party or PRT; Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and Peasants or CROC; Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers or CROM; Confederation of Employers of the Mexican Republic or COPARMEX; National Chamber of Transformation Industries or CANACINTRA; Coordinator for Foreign Trade Business Organizations or COECE; Federation of Unions Providing Goods and Services or FESEBES; National Union of Workers or UNT

International organization participation: APEC, BCIE, BIS, Caricom (observer), CCC, CDB, EBRD, ECLAC, FAO, G-3, G-6, G-11, G-15, G-19, G-24, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA (observer), IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, NAM (observer), NEA, OAS, OECD, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNU, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Jesus REYES HEROLES Gonzalez Garza
chancery: 1911 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20006
telephone: [1] (202) 728-1600
FAX: [1] (202) 728-1698
consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, El Paso, Houston, Laredo (Texas), Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Nogales (Arizona), Phoenix, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Juan (Puerto Rico)
consulate(s): Albuquerque, Brownsville (Texas), Calexico (California), Corpus Christi, Del Rio (Texas), Detroit, Douglas (Arizona), Eagle Pass (Texas), Fresno (California), McAllen (Texas), Midland (Texas), Orlando, Oxnard (California), Philadelphia, Portland (Oregon), St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Bernardino, San Jose, Santa Ana (California), Seattle, Tucson

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Jeffery DAVIDOW
embassy: Paseo de la Reforma 305, Colonia Cuauhtemoc, 06500 Mexico, Distrito Federal
mailing address: P. O. Box 3087, Laredo, TX 78044-3087
telephone: [52] (5) 209-9100
FAX: [52] (5) 208-3373, 511-9980
consulate(s) general: Ciudad Juarez, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Tijuana
consulate(s): Hermosillo, Matamoros, Merida, Nuevo Laredo, Nogales

Flag description: three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and red; the coat of arms (an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its beak) is centered in the white band