Is voting mandatory in the 2024 Mexican elections if you live abroad?

This Sunday 2 June, millions of Mexicans will take to the streets to go to the polls and exercise their right to vote in the general elections. Through this process, Mexican voters will decide who will occupy the highest office in the nation for the next presidential period (2024 - 2030).

The candidates facing each other for the presidency of Mexico are Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, from the ‘Let’s Continue Making History’ (Sigamos Haciendo Historia) coalition, which includes the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), Labor Party (PT) and Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM); Xóchitl Gálvez, of the ‘Strength and Heart for Mexico’ (Fuerza y Corazón por México) alliance, made up of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) and National Action Party (PAN); and Jorge Álvarez Máynez from the Citizen Movement (MC).

Of the 60 million Hispanics who reside in the United States, more than 37 million are Mexicans, according to figures from the Pew Research Center, so this June 2 it is expected a high rate of Mexican voters in the United States, either in one of the polling stations set up in the country or through another of the methods available will vote.

But is it mandatory for Mexicans abroad to vote? We explain to you.

You may also be interested in: How to vote in the Mexico 2024 elections from the US?

Is voting mandatory in the 2024 Mexican elections if you live abroad?

According to article 35 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, all Mexicans have the right to exercise their vote in popular elections, while article 36 establishes that a Mexican has the obligation to “vote in elections, popular consultations and mandate revocation processes, in the terms established by law.”

That said, voting in presidential elections is the right and obligation of all those who have Mexican citizenship, even if they reside in the United States or some other territory outside their country of origin. However, unlike other countries, the law does not establish any type of sanction for those who do not go to vote.

According to an article in El Economista, until 2019, 26 countries had established voting as an obligation, but only 13 have sanctions for those who refuse to participate in the electoral process. Mexico is not among them.