Abstract

MONTANO REYES, Mónica. What do (not) local deputies represents? Mexican electoral system, attitudes and distrust. Espiral (Guadalaj.) [online]. 2020, vol.27, n.77, pp.131-176.  Epub Feb 12, 2021. ISSN 1665-0565.  https://doi.org/10.32870/eees.v27i77.7091.

Starting from the idea that electoral systems represent the conjunction between the theoretical principles of democracy and its materialization in political representation, this article proposes an analysis framework to assess the level of representativeness in a subnational legislative congress in Mexico from : 1) the notion of representation on which it is based on the Mexican electoral system,2) the same notion on the representative, and 3) the crisis of representativeness suffered by the deputies. A characterization of the Mexican national and subnational electoral system is offered, with a predominance of the descriptive representation in territorial terms, and the cases of eight federative entities with different amount of population represented are shown. It is concluded that although the Mexican electoral system is based on a totally territorial notion, local deputies do not consider it as the main element to ensure a better representation.

Keywords : Electoral system; representation; local congresses; democracy; Mexico.