ital: 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 and head of government: President Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce
de Leon (since 1 December 1994); election last held on 21 August 1994
(next to be held NA); results - Ernesto ZEDILLO Ponce de Leon (PRI)
50.18%, Cuauhtemoc CARDENAS Solorzano (PRD) 17.08%, Diego FERNANDEZ de
Cevallos (PAN) 26.69%; other 6.049%
cabinet: Cabinet; appointed by the president

Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress (Congreso de la Union)

Senate (Camara de Senadores): elections last held on 21 August 1994
(next to be held NA); results - percent of vote by party NA; seats in
full Senate - (128 total; Senate expanded from 64 seats at the last
election) PRI 93, PRD 25, PAN 10
Chamber of Deputies (Camara de Diputados): elections last held on 24
August 1994 (next to be held NA); results - percent of vote by party
NA; seats - (500 total) PRI 300, PAN 119, PRD 71, PFCRN 10

Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia)

Political parties and leaders: (recognized parties) Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI), Maria de los Angeles MORENO; National
Action Party (PAN), Carlos CASTILLO; Popular Socialist Party (PPS),
Indalecio SAYAGO Herrera; Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD),
Porfirio MUNOZ Ledo; Cardenist Front for the National Reconstruction
Party (PFCRN), Rafael AGUILAR Talamantes; Authentic Party of the
Mexican Revolution (PARM), Rosa Maria MARTINEZ Denagri; Democratic
Forum Party (PFD), Pablo Emilio MADERO; Mexican Green Ecologist Party
(PVEM), Jorge GONZALEZ Torr