Note: Because voter turnout was below 40%, this initiative will not be enforced. 

At Stake in this Referendum [1]

Mexico will hold a referendum on April 10, 2022 to determine whether or not the current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (also called AMLO) should be removed from office or not. The referendum was proposed by AMLO himself during his 2018 presidential campaign and was requested by both opponents and supporters of AMLO’s government.

The Mexican public will be presented with the following question:

• Do you agree that Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President of the United Mexican States, should have his mandate revoked due to loss of confidence or that he should continue in the Presidency of the Republic until his period concludes?

Voters may respond by selecting either “His mandate should be revoked due to the loss of confidence” or “He should remain in the presidency of the republic”. The election must have a turnout of at least 40% in order to be binding.

Government Structure [2]:

• Chief of State*: President Andres Manuel LOPEZ OBRADOR (since December 1, 2018)
• Assembly: The bicameral National Congress (Congreso de la Union) includes the Senate (Camara de Senadores) which has 128 seats and the Chamber of Deputies (Camara de Diputados) which has 500 seats.

*Note: the President is both the Chief of State and Head of Government.

Electoral System [3]:

• The President is directly elected by simple majority popular vote for a single 6-year term.
• 96 members of the Senate are directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by simple majority vote and the remaining 32 members are elected in a single, nationwide constituency by proportional representation vote. Members of the Senate serve 6-year terms.
• 300 members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote. The remaining 200 members are directly elected in a single, nationwide constituency by proportional representation vote. Members of the Chamber of Deputies serve 3-year terms.

Last Election: [4]

• The last referendum was held on August 1, 2021. The referendum asked, “Are you in agreement or not in accordance with the constitutional and legal framework be carried out in order to undertake actions of clarification of political decisions taken in the past by political actors, aimed at guaranteeing justice and the rights of the possible victims?".
• 98.44% of voters voted ‘yes’ on the referendum (6,511,385 votes) and 1.56% of voters voted ‘no’ (102,945 votes).
• This election had a voter turnout rate of 7%.

Population and Registered Voters:

• Population: 129,150,971 (2022 est.) [5]
• Registered voters: 93,328,771 (2021 est.) [6]

Gender Data:

• Female Population: Not available
• Is Mexico a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (signed 17 July 1980) [7]
• Has Mexico ratified CEDAW:  Yes (ratified 23 March 1981) [8]
• Gender Quota: Yes, Mexico has both legislated and voluntary quotas. Political parties are required to have at least 40% of its candidates be women. [9]
• Female candidates in this election: N/A
• Number of Female Legislators: 250 out of 500 members of the Chamber of Deputies and 63 out of 128 members of the Senate [10]
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 0.779 (ranked 74) [11]
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Low (29%) [12]

Disability Data:

• Is Mexico a signatory to CRPD: Yes (signed 30 March 2007) [13]
• Has Mexico ratified CRPD: Yes (ratified on 17 December 2007) [14]
• Population with a disability: 18,260,521 (2022 est.) [15]