Congress of Mexico

Congress of the Union Congreso de la Unión
LXI Legislature
Type
Founded	September 28, 1821 (1821-09-28)
Type	Bicameral
Houses	Senate Chamber of Deputies
Leadership
President of the Senate	José González, (PAN) since September 1, 2011 (2011-09-01)
President of the Chamber of Deputies	Emilio Chuayffet, (PRI) since September 1, 2011 (2011-09-01)
Structure
Members	628 (128 Senators) (500 Deputies)
Senate Political groups	Independent
Chamber of Deputies Political groups	Independent
Authority	Title III, Chapter II of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States
Elections
Senate Last election	July 2, 2006
Chamber of Deputies Last election	July 5, 2009
Motto
La Patria Es Primero (The Country Is First)
Meeting place
Senate Palacio del Senado Mexico City
Meeting place
Deputies Palacio Legislativo de San Lázaro Mexico City
Website
Senate Website Chamber of Deputies Website

The Congress of the Union (formally: Congreso General de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos; English: General Congress of the United Mexican States) is the legislative branch of the Mexican government. Its structure and responsibilities are defined in Articles 50 to 79 of the 1917 Constitution.

Congress is bicameral – that is, it is composed of two chambers.

The upper chamber is the Senate (Cámara de Senadores or Senado). It comprises 128 seats, 96 members are elected by direct popular vote for six-year terms; the other 32 seats are allocated based on proportional representation.

The lower house is the Chamber of Deputies (Cámara de Diputados). It has 500 seats, 300 members are elected by popular vote to three-year terms; the other 200 seats are allocated according to proportional representation.

In keeping with the Mexican tradition of "no reelection," deputies and senators are not eligible to immediately succeed themselves. Thus, the Congress is one of the few democratically elected legislatures in the world that is completely renewed at each election.

Permanent Committee

the "Comisión Permanente del Congreso de la Unión", translated variously as the Permanent Committee or Standing Committee, is a body of 19 deputies and 18 senators that is responsible for tasks relating to the Congress when it is in recess.

Term

It is conventional to refer to each Legislature by the Roman numeral of its term. Thus, the current Congress (whose term lasts from 2009 to 2012) is known as the "LXI Legislature"; the previous Congress (whose term lasted from 2006 to 2009) was the "LX Legislature," and so forth. The I Legislature of Congress was the first Constitutional congress after the 1857 Constitution.

Early in the 20th century, the revolutionary leader Francisco I. Madero popularized the slogan, Sufragio Efectivo – no Reelección (effective suffrage, no reelection). In keeping with that long held principle, the current 1917 Constitution states that "Deputies and Senators cannot be reelected for the next immediate term."^[1]

References

1. ^ Constitution of 1917, article 50, 59.