Multi-member legislators are elected according to the percentage of votes their party receives. That is, the greater electoral support, the more multi-member deputies and senators a party obtains.
Previous initiatives
In December 2009, President Felipe Calderón presented a political-electoral reform initiative that proposed the elimination or reduction of multi-member legislators. In his proposal, he proposed abolishing the 32 multi-member senators and reducing proportional representation deputies from 200 to 160.
Calderón then assured that this would help build agreements more quickly, improve decision-making for the benefit of citizens, overcome legislative paralysis and generate budget savings. However, the proposal was not successful due to the lack of consensus, although it was not the only time that a PAN member presented a similar idea.
In October 2012 – also with Felipe Calderón in the presidency – PAN legislators proposed eliminating the 32 multi-member senators, which implied a reform to article 56 of the Constitution to reduce the Senate to 96 members, all elected by relative majority.
The PAN members argued that the multi-member senatories were used to appoint legislators who did not represent the citizens. They stated that the proportional representation system became undemocratic, since senators elected by national list responded more to the interests of the party than to those of the voters.
That same year, in May, Enrique Peña Nieto also presented a proposal to reduce the number of multi-member legislators. His plan consisted of a Senate of 96 members, of which 64 would be elected by relative majority and one by first minority, eliminating the 32 multi-member senators. In addition, he proposed that the Chamber of Deputies be made up of 400 legislators, of which 300 would be elected by relative majority and 100 by proportional representation, which implied eliminating 100 multi-member seats.
In January 2017, the PRI, still under the government of Enrique Peña Nieto, resumed the proposal to reduce multi-member legislators. César Camacho, leader of the PRI deputies, presented the initiative again: he argued that the political and economic reality of the country changed and that the reduction of deputies and senators would contribute to strengthening democracy and respond to citizen distrust towards institutions.
