Article 41 Political Constitution of the United Mexican States

The people exercise their sovereignty through the Powers of the Union, in the cases within the competence of these, and through those of the States and Mexico City, as regards their internal regimes, in the terms respectively established by this Federal Constitution and those particular to each State and Mexico City, which in no case may contravene the stipulations of the Federal Pact.

The appointments of the persons holding office in the public administration of the Federal Executive Power and their equivalents in the states (federal entities) and Municipalities shall observe the principle of gender parity. The laws shall determine the corresponding forms and modalities.

The renewal of the Legislative and Executive powers shall be carried out through free, authentic and periodic elections, in accordance with the following bases:

I.Political parties are entities of public interest; the law shall determine the norms and requirements for their legal registration, the specific forms of their intervention in the electoral process and the rights, obligations and prerogatives that correspond to them. In the nomination of their candidacies, the principle of gender parity shall be observed.

Political parties have as their purpose to promote the participation of the people in democratic life, to foster the principle of gender parity, to contribute to the integration of the organs of political representation, and, as citizens' organizations, to make possible their access to the exercise of public power, in accordance with the programs, principles and ideas they advocate and through universal, free, secret and direct suffrage, as well as with the rules laid down by the electoral law to guarantee gender parity, in the candidacies for the different positions of popular election. Only citizens may form political parties and join them freely and individually; therefore, the intervention of trade organizations or organizations with a different social object in the creation of parties and any form of corporate affiliation are prohibited.

The electoral authorities may only intervene in the internal affairs of political parties in the terms set forth in this Constitution and the law.

National political parties shall have the right to participate in the elections of the states (federal entities) and municipal elections. The national political party that does not obtain at least three percent of the total valid vote cast in any of the elections held for the renewal of the Executive Power or of the Chambers of the Congress of the Union shall have its registration cancelled.

The National Electoral Institute (Instituto Nacional Electoral) shall have competence to hear matters related to access to public information and the protection of personal data in charge of political parties; it shall also hear the review appeals filed by private individuals regarding the resolutions of political parties in the terms established by the law.

II.The law shall guarantee that national political parties have, in an equitable manner, elements to carry out their activities and shall set forth the rules to which the financing of the parties themselves and their electoral campaigns shall be subject, and must guarantee that public resources prevail over those of private origin.

Public financing for political parties that maintain their registration after each election shall be composed of the installments destined to the support of their ordinary permanent activities, those tending to the obtaining of the vote during the electoral processes and those of a specific nature. It shall be granted in accordance with the following and with what the law provides:

a)Public financing for the support of their ordinary permanent activities shall be fixed annually, multiplying the total number of citizens registered in the electoral roll by sixty-five percent of the daily value of the Unidad de Medida y Actualización. Thirty percent of the amount resulting in accordance with the foregoing shall be distributed among the political parties in an egalitarian form and the remaining seventy percent in accordance with the percentage of votes they obtained in the immediately preceding election of deputies.

b)Public financing for the activities tending to the obtaining of the vote during the year in which the President of the Republic, senators and federal deputies are elected shall be equivalent to fifty percent of the public financing corresponding to each political party for ordinary activities in that same year; when only federal deputies are elected, it shall be equivalent to thirty percent of said financing for ordinary activities.

c)Public financing for specific activities, relating to education, training, socioeconomic and political research, as well as editorial tasks, shall be equivalent to three percent of the total amount of public financing corresponding in each year for ordinary activities. Thirty percent of the amount resulting in accordance with the foregoing shall be distributed among the political parties in an egalitarian form and the remaining seventy percent in accordance with the percentage of votes they obtained in the immediately preceding election of deputies.

The law shall fix the limits to the expenditures in the internal processes of selection of candidates and in the electoral campaigns. The law itself shall establish the maximum amount that the contributions of their members and sympathizers shall have; it shall order the procedures for the control, timely auditing and oversight, during the campaign, of the origin and use of all the resources they have; likewise, it shall provide the sanctions that must be imposed for the non-compliance with these provisions.

In the same manner, the law shall establish the procedure for the liquidation of the obligations of the parties that lose their registration and the cases in which their assets and remainders shall be awarded to the Federation.

III.National political parties shall have the right to the permanent use of the means of social communication. Independent candidates shall have the right of access to prerogatives for the electoral campaigns in the terms established by the law.

Subsection A. The National Electoral Institute shall be the sole authority for the administration of the time corresponding to the State in radio and television destined to its own purposes and to the exercise of the right of the national political parties, in accordance with the following and with what the laws establish:

a)From the beginning of the pre-campaigns and until the day of election day, forty-eight minutes daily shall be at the disposal of the National Electoral Institute, which shall be distributed in two and up to three minutes for each hour of transmission in each radio station and television channel, in the schedule referred to in subparagraph d) of this subsection. In the period comprised between the end of the pre-campaigns and the beginning of the campaigns, fifty percent of the times in radio and television shall be destined to the own purposes of the electoral authorities, and the rest to the dissemination of generic messages of the political parties, in accordance with what the law establishes;

b)During their pre-campaigns, the political parties shall have together one minute for each hour of transmission in each radio station and television channel; the remaining time shall be used in accordance with what the law determines;

c)During the electoral campaigns, at least eighty-five percent of the total available time referred to in subparagraph a) of this subsection must be destined to cover the right of the political parties and the candidates;

d)The transmissions in each radio station and television channel shall be distributed within the programming schedule comprised between six and twenty-four hours;

e)The time established as the right of the political parties and, where applicable, of the independent candidates, shall be distributed among them in accordance with the following: seventy percent shall be distributed among the political parties according to the results of the immediately preceding election for federal deputies and the remaining thirty percent shall be divided in equal parts, of which up to one of them may be assigned to the independent candidates as a whole;

f)Each national political party without representation in the Congress of the Union shall be assigned for radio and television only the part corresponding to the egalitarian percentage established in the preceding subparagraph, and

g)Independently of the provisions in subsections A and B of this base and outside the periods of federal pre-campaigns and electoral campaigns, the National Electoral Institute shall be assigned up to twelve percent of the total time that the State has in radio and television, in accordance with the laws and under any modality; of the total assigned, the Institute shall distribute among the national political parties in an egalitarian form fifty percent; the remaining time it shall use for its own purposes or those of other electoral authorities, both federal and of the states (federal entities). Each national political party shall use the time corresponding to it under this concept in the formats established by the law. In all cases, the transmissions referred to in this subparagraph shall be made in the schedule determined by the Institute in accordance with the provisions of subparagraph d) of this Subsection. In special situations, the Institute may dispose of the times corresponding to partisan messages in favor of a political party, when so justified.

Political parties and candidates may not at any moment contract or acquire, by themselves or through third persons, times in any modality of radio and television.

No other natural or legal person, whether on its own account or on account of third parties, may contract propaganda in radio and television directed to influence the electoral preferences of the citizens, nor in favor of or against political parties or candidates for positions of popular election. The transmission in national territory of this type of messages contracted abroad is prohibited.

The provisions contained in the two preceding paragraphs must be complied with in the scope of the states (federal entities) in accordance with the applicable legislation.

Subsection B. For electoral purposes in the states (federal entities), the National Electoral Institute shall administer the times corresponding to the State in radio and television in the stations and channels of coverage in the state (federal entity) in question, in accordance with the following and with what the law determines:

a)For the cases of the local electoral processes with election days coinciding with the federal one, the time assigned in each state (federal entity) shall be comprised within the total available in accordance with subparagraphs a), b) and c) of subsection A of this base;

b)For the other electoral processes, the assignment shall be made in the terms of the law, in accordance with the criteria of this constitutional base, and

c)The distribution of the times among the political parties, including those of local registration, and the independent candidates shall be carried out in accordance with the criteria indicated in subsection A of this base and what the applicable legislation determines.

When in the judgment of the National Electoral Institute the total time in radio and television referred to in this subsection and the preceding one is insufficient for its own purposes, those of other electoral authorities or for the independent candidates, it shall determine what is pertinent to cover the missing time, in accordance with the faculties that the law confers on it.

Subsection C. In the political or electoral propaganda disseminated by the parties and candidates, they must abstain from expressions that slander persons.

During the time comprised by the federal and local electoral campaigns and until the conclusion of the respective election day, the dissemination in the means of social communication of all governmental propaganda must be suspended, both of the federal powers and of the states (federal entities), as well as of the Municipalities, of the territorial demarcations of Mexico City and any other public entity. The only exceptions to the foregoing shall be the information campaigns of the electoral authorities, those relating to educational and health services, or those necessary for civil protection in cases of emergency.

Subsection D. The National Electoral Institute, through expedited procedures in the terms of the law, shall investigate the infractions to the provisions of this base and shall integrate the file to submit it to the knowledge and resolution of the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary (Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación). In the procedure, the Institute may impose, among other precautionary measures, the order to suspend or cancel immediately the transmissions in radio and television, in accordance with what the law provides.

IV.The law shall establish the requirements and the forms of carrying out the processes of selection and nomination of candidates for positions of popular election, as well as the rules for the pre-campaigns and the electoral campaigns.

The duration of the campaigns in the year of elections for President of the Republic, senators and federal deputies shall be ninety days; in the year in which only federal deputies are elected, the campaigns shall last sixty days. In no case shall the pre-campaigns exceed two thirds of the time foreseen for the electoral campaigns.

The violation of these provisions by the parties or any other natural or legal person shall be sanctioned in accordance with the law.

V.The organization of the elections is a state function that is carried out through the National Electoral Institute and the local public bodies, in the terms established by this Constitution.

Subsection A. The National Electoral Institute is an autonomous public body endowed with legal personality and its own patrimony, in whose integration participate the Legislative Power of the Union, the national political parties and the citizens, in the terms ordered by the law. In the exercise of this state function, certainty, legality, independence, impartiality, maximum publicity and objectivity shall be guiding principles.

The National Electoral Institute shall be an authority in the matter, independent in its decisions and operation, and professional in its performance; it shall have in its structure directive, executive, technical and oversight organs. The General Council shall be its superior directive organ and shall be integrated by a Councilor President and ten electoral councilors, and the councilors of the Legislative Power, the representatives of the political parties and an Executive Secretary shall attend, with voice but without vote; the law shall determine the rules for the organization and operation of the organs, the relations of command among them, as well as the relation with the local public bodies. The executive and technical organs shall have the qualified personnel necessary for the exercise of their attributions. An internal control organ shall have in its charge, with technical and management autonomy, the auditing of all the income and expenditures of the Institute. The provisions of the electoral law and of the Statute that the General Council approves on the basis of it shall govern the employment relations with the servants of the public body. The oversight organs of the electoral roll shall be integrated mostly by representatives of the national political parties. The directive boards of the polling stations shall be integrated by citizens.

The sessions of all the collegiate directive organs shall be public in the terms indicated by the law.

The Institute shall have an electoral office invested with public faith for acts of an electoral nature, whose attributions and operation shall be regulated by the law.

The Councilor President and the electoral councilors shall hold their position for nine years and may not be reelected. They shall be elected by the vote of two thirds of the members present of the Chamber of Deputies, through the following procedure:

a)The Chamber of Deputies shall issue the agreement for the election of the Councilor President and the electoral councilors, which shall contain the public call, the complete stages for the procedure, its deadline dates and non-extendable terms, as well as the process for the designation of a technical evaluation committee, integrated by five persons of recognized prestige, of which three shall be appointed by the political directive organ of the Chamber of Deputies and two by the National Human Rights Commission (Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos);

b)The committee shall receive the complete list of the aspirants that attend the public call, shall evaluate the compliance with the constitutional and legal requirements, as well as their suitability to perform the position; it shall select the best evaluated in a proportion of five persons for each vacant position, and shall remit the corresponding list to the political directive organ of the Chamber of Deputies;

c)The political directive organ shall promote the construction of the agreements for the election of the Councilor President and the electoral councilors, so that once the voting by this organ is carried out in the terms of the law, the proposal with the corresponding designations is remitted to the Plenary of the Chamber;

d)Upon expiration of the term established for the effect in the agreement referred to in subparagraph a), without the political directive organ of the Chamber having carried out the voting or remission foreseen in the preceding subparagraph, or having done so, the required voting is not reached in the Plenary, the latter must be convened to a session in which the election shall be carried out through drawing lots from the list formed by the evaluation committee;

e)Upon expiration of the term fixed in the agreement referred to in subparagraph a), without the election having been concretized in the terms of subparagraphs c) and d), the Plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation shall carry out, in public session, the designation through drawing lots from the list formed by the evaluation committee.

Should the absolute absence of the Councilor President or of any of the electoral councilors occur during the first six years of their mandate, a substitute shall be elected to conclude the period of the vacancy. If the absence occurs within the last three years, a councilor shall be elected for a new period.

The Councilor President and the electoral councilors may not have another employment, position or commission, with the exception of those in which they act in representation of the General Council and the non-remunerated ones that they perform in teaching, scientific, cultural, research or charitable associations.

The holder of the internal control organ of the Institute shall be designated by the Chamber of Deputies with the vote of two thirds of its members present at the proposal of public institutions of higher education, in the form and terms determined by the law. They shall last six years in the position and may be reelected for a single time. They shall be administratively attached to the presidency of the General Council and shall maintain the necessary technical coordination with the Superior Audit Office of the Federation (Auditoría Superior de la Federación).

The Executive Secretary shall be appointed with the vote of two thirds of the General Council at the proposal of its President.

The law shall establish the requirements that the Councilor President of the General Council, the electoral councilors, the holder of the internal control organ and the Executive Secretary of the National Electoral Institute must meet for their designation. Those who have served as Councilor President, electoral councilors and Executive Secretary may not perform positions in the public powers in whose election they have participated, of party leadership, nor be nominated for positions of popular election, during the two years following the date of conclusion of their mandate.

The councilors of the Legislative Power shall be proposed by the parliamentary groups with party affiliation in either of the Chambers. There shall be only one councilor for each parliamentary group notwithstanding its recognition in both Chambers of the Congress of the Union.

Subsection B. It corresponds to the National Electoral Institute in the terms established by this Constitution and the laws:

a)For the federal and local electoral processes:

1.Electoral training;

2.Electoral geography, as well as the design and determination of the electoral districts and division of the territory into electoral sections;

3.The electoral roll and the list of electors;

4.The location of the polling stations and the designation of the officials of their directive boards;

5.The rules, guidelines, criteria and formats in matters of preliminary results; surveys or opinion polls; electoral observation; quick counts; printing of documents and production of electoral materials;

6.The auditing of the income and expenditures of the political parties and candidates, and

7.The others that the law determines.

b)For the federal electoral processes:

1.The rights and the access to the prerogatives of the candidates and political parties;

2.The preparation of election day;

3.The printing of documents and the production of electoral materials;

4.The scrutinies and counts in the terms indicated by the law;

5.The declaration of validity and the granting of certificates in the elections of deputies and senators;

6.The count of the election of President of the United Mexican States in each of the single-member electoral districts, and

7.The others that the law determines.

c)For the processes of revocation of mandate, in the terms of article 35, section IX, the National Electoral Institute must carry out those functions that correspond for its proper implementation.

The National Electoral Institute shall assume, through agreement with the competent authorities of the states (federal entities) that so request it, the organization of electoral processes, of popular consultation and of revocation of mandate in the scope of those, in the terms that their Constitution and the applicable legislation provide. At the request of the political parties and charged to their prerogatives, in the terms established by the law, it may organize the elections of their leaders.

The auditing of the finances of the political parties and of the campaigns of the candidates shall be in charge of the General Council of the National Electoral Institute. The law shall develop the attributions of the Council for the carrying out of said function, as well as the definition of the technical organs dependent on it, responsible for carrying out the reviews and instructing the procedures for the application of the corresponding sanctions. In the fulfillment of its attributions, the General Council shall not be limited by banking, fiduciary and fiscal secrecy, and shall count on the support of the federal and local authorities.

In the event that the National Electoral Institute delegates the auditing function, its technical organ shall be the conduit to overcome the limitation referred to in the preceding paragraph.

Subsection C. In the states (federal entities), the local elections and, where applicable, the popular consultations and the processes of revocation of mandate, shall be in charge of local public bodies in the terms of this Constitution, which shall exercise functions in the following matters:

1.Rights and the access to the prerogatives of the candidates and political parties;

2.Civic education;

3.Preparation of election day;

4.Printing of documents and the production of electoral materials;

5.Scrutinies and counts in the terms indicated by the law;

6.Declaration of validity and the granting of certificates in the local elections;

7.Count of the election of the holder of the executive power;

8.Preliminary results; surveys or opinion polls; electoral observation, and quick counts, in accordance with the guidelines established in the preceding Subsection;

9.Organization, development, count and declaration of results in the mechanisms of citizen participation foreseen by the local legislation;

10.All those not reserved to the National Electoral Institute, and

11.Those that the law determines.

In the cases that the law establishes and with the approval of a majority of at least eight votes of the General Council, the National Electoral Institute may:

a)Assume directly the carrying out of the activities proper to the electoral function that correspond to the local electoral organs;

b)Delegate in said electoral organs the attributions referred to in subparagraph a) of Subsection B of this Base, without prejudice to reassuming their direct exercise at any moment, or

c)Attract to its knowledge any matter of the competence of the local electoral organs, when its transcendence so merits or to set a criterion of interpretation.

It corresponds to the National Electoral Institute to designate and remove the members of the superior directive organ of the local public bodies, in the terms of this Constitution.

Subsection D. The National Professional Electoral Service comprises the selection, entry, training, professionalization, promotion, evaluation, rotation, permanence and discipline, of the public servants of the executive and technical organs of the National Electoral Institute and of the local public bodies of the states (federal entities) in electoral matters. The National Electoral Institute shall regulate the organization and operation of this Service.

VI.To guarantee the principles of constitutionality and legality of the electoral acts and resolutions, including those relating to the processes of popular consultation and of revocation of mandate, a system of means of challenge shall be established in the terms that this Constitution and the law indicate. Said system shall give definitiveness to the distinct stages of the electoral processes, of popular consultation and of revocation of mandate, and shall guarantee the protection of the political rights of the citizens to vote, to be voted for and of association, in the terms of article 99 of this Constitution.

In electoral matters, the filing of the means of challenge, constitutional or legal, shall not produce suspensive effects on the resolution or the act challenged.

The law shall establish the system of nullities of the federal or local elections for serious, willful and determinant violations in the following cases:

a)The campaign expenditure exceeds by five percent the total authorized amount;

b)Informative coverage or times in radio and television is bought or acquired, outside the cases foreseen in the law;

c)Resources of illicit origin or public resources are received or used in the campaigns.

d)Acts of foreign intervention or interference that influence the electoral results are accredited.

Said violations must be accredited in an objective and material manner. It shall be presumed that the violations are determinant when the difference between the voting obtained between the first and the second place is less than five percent.

In the event of nullity of the election, an extraordinary election shall be convened, in which the sanctioned person may not participate.