Senate of the Republic (Mexico)

For other uses, see Senate of the Republic.

The Senate of the Republic, (Spanish: Senado de la República) constitutionally Chamber of Senators of the Honorable Congress of the Union (Spanish: Cámara de Senadores del H. Congreso de la Unión), is the upper house of Mexico's bicameral Congress. It currently consists of 128 members, who serve six-year terms.

Senate of the Republic Senado de la República
LXVI Legislature
Type
Type	Upper house of the Congress of Mexico
Term limits	Renewable once consecutively
History
Founded	4 October 1824 (1824-10-04)
Leadership
President of the Senate	Gerardo Fernández Noroña (MORENA) since 1 September 2024
Structure
Seats	128
Political groups	Government (86)   MORENA (66)   PVEM (14)   PT (6) Opposition (42)   PAN (22)   PRI (14)   MC (5)   No party (1)
Length of term	6 years
Authority	Chapter II of the Constitution of the United Mexican States
Elections
Voting system	Limited voting
Last election	2 June 2024 (2024-06-02)
Next election	2 June 2030 (2030-06-02)
Motto
La patria es primero (The Homeland Is First)
Meeting place
Senate Tribune Senate Building Mexico City, Mexico
Website
senado.gob.mx
Rules
Reglamento del Senado de la República (Spanish)

History

A bicameral legislature, including the Senate, was established on 4 October 1824. The Senate was abolished on 7 September 1857 and re-established on 13 November 1874. Under the regime of Porfirio Díaz (the Porfiriato: 1876–1910), many seats were given to elites and wealthy people loyal to the regime. During the Mexican Revolution, notably during the brief presidency of Francisco I. Madero, the Senate was left intact with Porfirian sympathizers and blocked the president's attempts to pass reforms for the Revolution.

Composition

After a series of reforms during the 1990s, the Senate is made up of 128 senators:

• Two for each of the 32 states elected under the principle of relative majority.
• One for each of the 32 states assigned under the principle of first minority (i.e. awarded to the party with the second highest number of votes in the state).
• Thirty-two national senators-at-large, divided among the parties in proportion to their share of the national vote.

In a senatorial race, each party nominates two candidates who run and are elected together by direct vote. The party of the two candidates that won the second highest vote within the state then assigns a senator to occupy the third seat (first minority seat), according to the list of candidates that the party registered with the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE).

Senators serve six-year terms, running concurrently with the president of Mexico's sexenio. Special elections are rare, as substitutes are chosen at every election. Until 2018, the Senate was completely renewed every six years since senators were barred from immediate reelection, but they can now serve a second term.

The session hall of the Chamber of Senators of Congress of the Union of Mexico.

The current composition of the Senate is as follows:

Party		Relative Majority	First Minority	At-large	Total
	MRN	47	6	13	66
	PAN	4	12	6	22
	PVEM	10	1	3	14
	PRI	−	10	4	14
	PT	3	−	3	6
	MC	−	2	3	5
	No Party	−	1	−	1

Term

In Spanish, it is conventional to refer to each legislature by the Roman numeral of its term. The current session (whose term lasts from 2021 to 2024) is known as the LXV Legislatura (65th Legislature).

Senators are elected to serve during two legislatures, while members of the Chamber of Deputies serve only one. Thus, current senators (who were elected in the general election of 1 July 2018) serve during the 64th and 65th Legislatures.

Legislatures

A senator holds office for a period of six years for which they were elected (from 1 September of the year of its election to 31 August six years later), divided into two legislatures of three years each.

The LXIII Legislature was installed on 1 September 2015, and its term ended on 31 August 2018. Senators were elected to office in the 2012 elections for a period of six years and were at their posts from 1 September of that year; therefore, they held office during both the LXII Legislature and the LXIII Legislature.

Election of senators

Current building of the Senate of Mexico in Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City.

Eligibility requirements

According to the Constitution, senators are the representatives of the nation. Election to the Senate, by any of the mechanisms available, requires the candidate to meet the following requirements:

• A Mexican citizen by birth, in full exercise of his or her rights.
• Twenty-five years old on election day
• From the state in the election, or a resident with an effective residence of more than six months prior to the date of the election, or in the case of candidates is made by proportional representation of any of the states that as the constituency, with the same details.
• Not being active duty in the military or have control of police or rural gendarmerie at least ninety days before the election.
• Not be a secretary or undersecretary of state unless the office is definitively resigned at least ninety days before the election.
• Not be Minister of the Supreme Court unless the office is definitively resigned three years before the election.
• Not be a minister of religion.

Election process

Senators are elected for a period of six years, corresponding to two legislatures and can be reelected just one time for the immediate period.

They are elected by direct popular suffrage and secret ballot in every state of the republic. Each political party registers a list with two formulas of candidates, consisting of two primary candidates and their alternates: the number 1 of the formula First Formula is denominated to him, and 2, Second Formula. The formula of candidates obtaining the highest number of votes is elected complete, becoming the first two senators of the state; the third Senate seat is awarded to the candidate of First Formula of the political party that won second place of votes or first minority.

There are also 32 senators elected by proportional representation. For this election, each political party registers a list of 32 candidates, and these are allocated by proportional representation according to the number of votes obtained by each political party in the national election.

Last election

See also: 2024 Mexican general election and LXVI Legislature of the Mexican Congress

Party or alliance				Constituency			Party-list			Total seats
				Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Sigamos Haciendo Historia		National Regeneration Movement	7,526,453	13.19	21	24,484,943	42.48	14	60
			Ecologist Green Party of Mexico	2,298,726	4.03	4	5,357,959	9.30	3	14
			Labor Party	1,215,172	2.13	0	3,214,708	5.58	2	9
			Common candidates	21,731,737	38.08	39				–
		Total		32,772,088	57.43	64	33,421,610	57.99	19	83
	Fuerza y Corazón por México		National Action Party	1,148,920	2.01	1	10,107,537	17.54	6	22
			Institutional Revolutionary Party	316,636	0.55	0	6,530,305	11.33	4	16
			Party of the Democratic Revolution	76,082	0.13	0	1,363,012	2.36	0	2
			Common candidates	16,244,373	28.47	29				–
		Total		17,786,011	31.17	30	18,000,854	31.23	10	40
	Citizens' Movement			6,460,220	11.32	2	6,528,238	11.33	3	5
Non-registered candidates				46,230	0.08	0	47,092	0.08	0	0
Total				57,064,549	100.00	96	57,633,794	100.00	32	128
Valid votes				57,064,549	96.08		57,633,794	96.05
Invalid/blank votes				2,326,742	3.92		2,369,932	3.95
Total votes				59,391,291	100.00		60,003,726	100.00
Source: INE

Governing bodies

For their internal government has two main instances, namely:

• Board: Composed of a chair, three vice-chairs and four secretaries, elected for each regular session of the House; the chair is the president of the Senate and is the head and representative of the Chamber.
• Political Coordination Board: Considered the true governing body of the Chamber consists of a chair and six members, which always include the Coordinators of the different parliamentary factions of political parties represented in the Senate.

Commissions

To deal with legislative affairs, senators form commissions dedicated to a particular issue. The most important committees are those of interior, constitutional issues, defense, finance, and justice. Each senator belongs to at least three different commissions, and each committee elects a chair and two to five secretaries (according to the commission) to coordinate their work.

Sessions

The two chambers of the General Congress divided its exercise into two ordinary sessions, the first from 1 September to 15 December and the second from 1 February to 30 April; if required, special sessions may be convened to deal with urgent or pertinent matters.

The time between the regular sessions known as Recesses. There are two recesses that run from 16 December to 31 January and 1 May to 31 August. During breaks, the Permanent Commission of the Congress is installed and serves as the depository of the legislature. It is composed of 37 members — 19 deputies and 18 senators — who are appointed by their respective chambers the day before the closing of the regular sessions.

The sessions of the Standing Committee are held in the Senate during the first recess and the Chamber of Deputies in the second recess.

Functions

Among the most important functions of the Senate is to ratify or reject the president's proposals regarding:

• Ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation
• Attorney General of the Republic
• Heads of autonomous bodies
• Diplomatic representatives (ambassadors and consuls)
• Treaties

Gallery

• 
  Former Senate tribune.
• 
  Former Main Senate Chambers at the corner of Donceles and Xicotencatl Streets in the historic center of Mexico City.
• 
  Former Senate offices on Donceles Street

References

External links

• (in Spanish) Official Website of the Mexican Senate