Documentos CIDOB América Latina; 17

This is an approach to the reality of Mexico motivated by the federal election process which reached its high point on 2 July 2006. Following the historical milestone of the 2000 election, which gave way to the first change in the colour of the federal government after seven decades of party hegemony, the 2006 election was more disputed and controversial. While an important new development in this election is the change from the previous political duality, featuring, on this occasion, two ideologically more distant parties, the National Action Party (PAN) and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), the re-emergence of a divided government in which neither of the two parties gained an absolute majority in either of the two chambers, should favour policies of negotiation in a very plural Congress. In this sense, the authors indicate that the results of the 2006 election should be interpreted – in contrast to how some Mexican politicians have read them – as an opportunity to build bridges for establishing the social cohesion of the country.

Authors: Cesáreo R. Aguilera de Prat, Professor of Political Science and Administration, University of Barcelona, and Josep M. Reniu Vilamala, Permanent Lecturer in Political Science and Administration, University of Barcelona.

ISSN: 1697-7688 (print ed.)
ISSN: 1697-8137 (on-line ed.)

166 pp.

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