Abstract

AGUILAR LOPEZ, Jesús. The participation of young people as candidates for deputies and senators in the 2012 electoral process. Polis [online]. 2013, vol.9, n.2, pp.79-111. ISSN 2594-0686.

This paper analyzes political participation and political representation of young people in the last federal election in Mexico. The study reports the findings of a Congress' candidates database, and shows the socio-demographic and political profile of young candidates by analyzing descriptive variables such as age group, sex, political party affiliation, state represented, as well as the electoral rule which made possible their candidacy and their success rate. This paper makes a groundbreaking contribution as it demonstrates empirically that young people have a scanty presence in both chambers of the Mexican legislative, which reveals that political parties lack appropriate mechanisms to foster young people's political representation. Likewise, this study shows that the Mexican electoral law and the political parties' statutes offer no guarantee for this population group as to grant them an institutional structure that favors the exercise of their political right to representation.

Keywords : Political participation; young candidates; political parties; 2012 election; legislature; political representation.