Senate Approves Legislation to Eliminate Dry Law on Election Day

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In a unanimous vote in late February, the Senate approved changes to the electoral code (Codigo Federal de Instituciones y Procedimientos Electorales, COFIPE), eliminating a federal prohibition on alcohol sales on the federal election day. The changes to the dry law, in effect for almost a century, will be applicable to the presidential and congressional elections on July 2, 2006.

Under the reform to article 239 of the COFIPE, restaurants and other establishments will no longer be subject to federal restrictions on the sale of alcoholic products on election day and the day prior to the election.

The Senate measure, similar to one the Chamber of Deputies approved in …