Mexican referendums, 1995

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A series of unofficial referendums on elections, political reforms and electoral participation was held in Mexico on 27 August 1995. [1] It was organised by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), who proposed a detailed reform for democratization, [2] that the country engage in free and reformed elections [3] and that the EZLN convert itself into a political party [4] and form a united front [5] with other opposition parties. [6] Another referendum question sought to establish equality for women in government and administration. [7] All these measures passed, but this unofficial referendum appears to have had little effect on Mexican governance.

Mexico Country in the southern portion of North America

Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost 2,000,000 square kilometres (770,000 sq mi), the nation is the fifth largest country in the Americas by total area and the 13th largest independent state in the world. With an estimated population of over 120 million people, the country is the eleventh most populous state and the most populous Spanish-speaking state in the world, while being the second most populous nation in Latin America after Brazil. Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and Mexico City, a special federal entity that is also the capital city and its most populous city. Other metropolises in the state include Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Toluca, Tijuana and León.

Zapatista Army of National Liberation far-left libertarian-socialist political group

The Zapatista Army of National Liberation, often referred to as the Zapatistas[sapaˈtistas], is a far-left libertarian-socialist political and militant group that controls a large amount of territory in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico.

A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front—the name often refers to a political and/or military struggle carried out by revolutionaries, especially in revolutionary socialism, communism or anarchism. The basic theory of the united front tactic among socialists was first developed by the Comintern, an international communist organization created by communists in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. According to the thesis of the 1922 4th World Congress of the Comintern:

The united front tactic is simply an initiative whereby the Communists propose to join with all workers belonging to other parties and groups and all unaligned workers in a common struggle to defend the immediate, basic interests of the working class against the bourgeoisie.

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