Chamber of Deputies (Mexico)

For other uses, see Chamber of Deputies.

Chamber of Deputies Cámara de Diputados
LXI Legislature
Type
Type	Lower house of the Congress of Mexico
History
Founded	September 28, 1821 (1821-09-28)
Leadership
President of the Chamber of Deputies	Patricia Retamoza Vega Since 2012 (2012)
Structure
Seats	500
Political groups	Independent
Meeting place
Chamber of Deputies San Lázaro Legislative Palace Mexico City Mexico
Website
Official Website of the Chamber of Deputies

The Chamber of Deputies (in Spanish: Cámara de Diputados) is the lower house of the Congress of the Union, Mexico's bicameral legislature. The structure and responsibilities of both chambers of Congress are defined in Articles 50 to 70 of the current constitution.

Composition

The Chamber of Deputies is composed of one federal representative (in Spanish: diputado federal) for every 200,000 citizens. Currently (as of 2006 election) there are 500 deputies.

Of these, 300 "majority deputies" are directly elected by plurality from single-member districts (Federal Electoral Districts). The remaining 200 "party deputies" are assigned through rules of proportional representation. These seats are not tied to districts; rather, they are allocated to parties based on each party's share of the national vote. The 200 party deputies are intended to counterbalance the sectional interests of the district-based representatives. Substitutes are elected at the same time as each deputy.

The Chamber of Deputies is completely replaced every three years since deputies are not permitted to serve consecutive terms. Thus, the Chamber of Deputies is one of the few legislative bodies in the world that is completely renewed at an election. Congressional elections held halfway into the president's six year mandate are known as mid-term elections.

Current Representatives

See Main article: LXII Legislature of the Mexican Congress

Last election

 Summary of the 5 July 2009 Mexican Chamber of Deputies election results

Party		Votes	% (of all votes)	Seats	+/−	%
	Institutional Revolutionary Party	12,591,855	36.68%	241	+135	48.2%
	National Action Party	9,549,798	27.98%	147	−59	29.4%
	Party of the Democratic Revolution	4,164,393	12.20%	72	−54	14.4%
	Ecologist Green Party of Mexico	2,291,298	6.71%	17	±0	3.4%
	Labor Party	1,258,341	3.68%	9	−2	1.8%
	New Alliance Party	1,164,999	3.41%	8	−1	1.6%
	Convergence	850,777	2.49%	6	−12	1.2%
	Social Democratic Party	353,261	1.03%	0	−5	—
	Independents	62,101	0.18%	0	−2	—
Valid votes		32,286,823	94.61%	500	—	100.0%
Invalid votes		1,839,971	5.39%
Total votes (turnout: 44.6%)		34,126,794	100.0%
Sources: El Universal, IFE PREP 2009

See also

• President of the Chamber of Deputies Directive Board
• Congress of Mexico
• Senate of Mexico
• Politics of Mexico

External links

• Official website (in Spanish)