Congress of the Union

Congress of the Union Congreso de la Unión
LXI Legislature
Type
Type	Bicameral
Houses	Senate Chamber of Deputies
History
Founded	September 28, 1821 (1821-09-28)
Leadership
President of the Senate	Ernesto Cordero (PAN) since September 1, 2012 (2012-09-01)
President of the Chamber of Deputies	Jesús Murillo Karam (PRI) since September 1, 2012 (2012-09-01)
Structure
Seats	628 (128 Senators) (500 Deputies) (until August 31,2012)
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
Last Senate election	July 1, 2012
Last Chamber of Deputies election	July 1, 2012
Motto
La Patria Es Primero (The Country Is First)
Meeting place
File:Salon de Sesiones Palacio del Senado.jpg
Senate Palacio del Senado Mexico City
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. It is a bicameral assembly; that is, composed of two chambers: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Its structure and responsibilities are defined in the Third Title, Second Chapter, Articles 50 to 79 of the 1917 Constitution.

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 2012 to 2015) is known as the "LXII Legislature"; the previous Congress (whose term lasted from 2009 to 2012) was the "LXI 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."