The electoral regions of Mexico in the context of fundamental transformation of the country's party system

Abstract

The electoral geography of the countries of Latin America remains a poorly studied topic. The article analyzes the evolution of the party system in Mexico and the factors that allowed the left-wing party MORENA in 2018 to take a leading role in Mexican politics. The attention was paid to the electoral strategy of MORENA and the role of the personality of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in it. The main focus of the article is on the analysis of the geographical features of the results of the election of deputies of Congress in 2018 and their comparison with the results of the 2000-2015 elections. Based on electoral statistics, the author highlights the electoral macro-districts of Mexico formed in the first two decades of the XXI century and concludes that they are stable, which reflects the continuity of the electoral behavior of their population. The author comes to the conclusion that the electoral campaigns in Mexico are significantly personalized, and that the «north-south» and «rural-urban» electoral gradients that are most important for the Mexican political system have survived even in the face of the defeat of traditional parties.