Government System in Mexico City

The political structure of Mexico City and the Federal District was formalized by the 1917 constitution.

Under the constitution, the Federal District included Mexico City and several suburban cities, and it was governed by the head of the Department of the Federal District.

The department was responsible for all activities normally associated with city government, including police, public works, and transportation.

The head of the Department of the Federal District exercised the combined powers of mayor of Mexico City and governor of the district.

Until the 1990s, the president of Mexico appointed the head of the department.

The department became more important as the population of the city grew dramatically, as Mexico City became the center of the country's industrial growth, and as intellectual and professional resources concentrated within its boundaries.

The department became one of the largest, most influential federal bureaucracies.

Residents of the Federal District became increasingly dissatisfied with a political situation that denied them the right to vote for what, in effect, would be their governor or mayor.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the national government enacted reform legislation that transferred control of the Federal District’s government from officials appointed by the nation’s president to politicians elected directly by the voters of the Federal District.

In 1988 residents began electing representatives to an Assembly of the Federal District, a newly created legislative body. However, the assembly exercised little influence on policy decisions affecting the district.

The district eventually approved legislation that established an elected position for Mexico City and the Federal District, creating a powerful new political office directly accountable to the residents of the district.

The new position was the head of the Federal District (often referred to as the mayor of Mexico City).

The first election was held in 1997. Voters elected Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, a member of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), one of Mexico’s major opposition parties.