The 'Head of Government' (
Spanish: ''Jefe de Gobierno)'' wields executive power in the
Mexican Federal District.
The Head of Government serves a six-year term, running concurrently with that of the
President of the Republic.
The
federal district, or D.F., is the seat of national
executive,
legislative, and
judicial power, and is largely contiguous with the core of the sprawling
Mexico City conurbation.
According to Article 122 of the
Constitution, "the Head of Government of the Federal District shall be responsible for executive power and public administration in the district and shall be represented by a single individual, elected by universal, free, direct, and secret suffrage."
The title is commonly rendered in
English as "Mayor of Mexico City" or (less frequently) as "Governor of the Federal District" (as the position was known in the early post-
Revolution years), but in reality the position does not correspond exactly to either the
mayor of a
municipality ''(
presidente municipal)'' or the
governor of a
state ''(
gobernador)'' as they are understood in Mexican law.
For the greater part of the 20th century, the D.F. was administered directly by the
President of the Republic, who delegated his authority to an appointed
Head of the Federal District Department, known more commonly (and tersely) as the ''Regente'' ("Regent" in English). This non-democratic imposition was a source of constant and often bitter resentment among the inhabitants of Mexico City. Under the reforms of the state introduced by presidents
Carlos Salinas and
Ernesto Zedillo, the Regent was replaced by the first directly elected Head of Government in
1997.
On
6 July 1997, with a 47.7% share of the vote in an eight-horse race,
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas won the first direct Head of Government election (this first term was to last only three years, to bring the office into line with the presidential succession). Cárdenas, a former presidential candidate who was, according to many, cheated out of victory in the closely fought 1988 presidential election, later resigned to compete in the
2000 presidential campaign and left in his place
Rosario Robles, who served out the remainder of his term as the first woman to govern Mexico City.
The Head of Government elected for the
2000–
2006 term was
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, elected with 39% of the popular vote in the same election that saw
Vicente Fox of the
PAN win the presidency. López Obrador was temporarily removed from office by the federal
Congress on
7 April 2005 and was replaced, on an interim basis for a period of slightly over two weeks, by his secretary of government,
Alejandro Encinas. See
desafuero of AMLO.
All the Heads of Government to date have come from the ranks of the left-of-centre
Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) (or from PRD-led coalitions of parties); all the Heads of the Federal District Department were members of the
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
Incumbents as Governors of Federal District
★
Francisco Mariel,
1915
★
César López de Lara,
1915
★
Amador Salazar,
1915
★
Gildardo Magaña,
1915
★
César López de Lara,
1915 to
1917
★
Gonzalo G. de la Mata,
1917
★
César López de Lara,
1917 to
1918
★
Alfredo Breceda,
1918
★
Arnulfo González,
1918 to
1919
★
Alfredo Breceda,
1919
★
Benito Flores,
1919 to
1920
★
Manuel Rueda Magro,
1920
★
Manuel Gómez Noriega,
1920
★
Celestino Gasca,
1920 to
1923
★
Ramón Ross,
1923
★
Abel S. Rodríguez,
1923 to
1924
★
Ramón Ross,
1924 to
1926
★
Francisco R. Serrano,
1926 to
1927
★
Primo Villa Michel,
1927 to
1928
Incumbents as Head of the Federal District Department
★
José Manuel Puig Casauranc,
1929 to
1930
★
Crisóforo Ibáñez,
1930
★
Lamberto Hernández,
1930 to
1931
★
Enrique Romero Courtade,
1931
★
Lorenzo Hernández,
1931 to
1932
★
Vicente Estrada Cajigal,
1932
★
Manuel Padilla,
1932
★
Juan G. Cabral,
1932
★
Aarón Sáenz Garza,
1932 to
1935
★
Cosme Hinojosa,
1935 to
1938
★
José Siurob Ramírez,
1938 to
1940
★
Javier Rojo Gómez,
1940 to
1946
★
Fernando Casas Alemán,
1946 to
1952
★
Ernesto P. Uruchurtu,
1952 to
1956
★
Alfonso Corona del Rosal,
1966 to
1970
★
Alfonso Martínez Domínguez,
1970 to
1971
★
Octavio Sentíes Gómez,
1971 to
1976
★
Carlos Hank González,
1976 to
1982
★
Ramón Aguirre Velázquez,
1982 to
1988
★
Manuel Camacho Solís,
1988 to
1993
★
Manuel Aguilera Gómez,
1993 to
1994
★
Óscar Espinosa Villarreal,
1994 to
1997
Incumbents as Head of Government of the Federal District
★
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano 1997-1999,
PRD; resigned to pursue the presidency.
★
Rosario Robles Berlanga, 1999-2000 (interim),
PRD.
★
Andrés Manuel López Obrador,
2000 to
April 7,
2005,
PRD; removed from office after his executive immunity was lifted by Congress.
★
Alejandro Encinas Rodríguez April 8 2005 to
April 25,
2005 (interim).
★
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, from
April 25 to
July 29,
2005; reinstated; subsequently resigned to pursue the presidency.
★
Alejandro Encinas Rodríguez,
July 30,
2005 to
December 4,
2006 (interim).
★
Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon,
incumbent starting on
December 5,
2006.
See also
★
List of Mexican state governors
★
2006 Mexican Federal District election
External link
★
Official website of Mexican Federal District