¿Más Mujeres? Mexico’s Mixed-Member Electoral System

Abstract

The effects of mixed member systems on women’s representation have been almost without debate1—an oversight that is particularly problematic given that electoral systems “can be, and regularly are, changed” and that the adoption of a mixed member system may be the “electoral reform of the twenty-first century” (Ballington and Matland 2004: 4; Shugart and Wattenberg 2001a: 1). Although no consensus exists on the desirability of mixed member systems, its cheerleaders believe that they merge the most desirable elements of single member district plurality and proportional representation (Shugart and Wattenberg 2001a); however, its critics argue that “[t]he advocates of plurality-PR hybrids believe that they are bringing together the best of two worlds; but they are likely to obtain, instead, a bastard-producing hybrid which combines their defects” (Sartori 1997: 75). Mexico is proof that electoral systems can be altered (even quite frequently) and that mixed member systems are becoming popular, but what can it tell us about how this will affect women’s political representation?