Mexico appears to have passed its first test in the era of divided government after President Ernesto Zedillo delivered a surprisingly trouble-free Informe (state of the union) address. Despite coming close to a constitutional crisis at the weekend when Mr Zedillo's ruling party and opposition legislators squabbled over the format of the president's address, order and respect prevailed in the Congress building on Monday night.
"Right now one can feel legitimately proud to be Mexican," historian and author, Enrique Krauze, told the Televisa network's 24 Hours news programme. "We're talking about a moment that future generations are going to remember. I think we can say absolutely that Mexico has now entered times of democracy," he said.
Mr Krauze was part of a Televisa panel analysing Mr Zedillo's speech, which marked the first time in 68 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that the president addressed a lower house of Congress without a PRI majority.
"Everything was an advance, both in form and in substance," said Mr Federico Reyes Heroles, a university professor and magazine editor.
President Zedillo called on the opposition to join him in seeking steady economic growth and not risk prosperity with quick fixes. Near the halfway mark of his six-year term, Mr Zedillo warned the opposition against using its new majority in the lower house of congress to blow Mexico's economic recovery off course with rash populist measures.
In a sober state of the union ceremony devoid of traditional pomp and circumstance, Mr Zedillo told legislators that while details of his free-market economic policies could be examined, "the essential bases are correct".
"We should all be aware that any wishful thinking, any decision which affects negatively essential conditions for growth such as economic stability, healthy public finances . . . will not only prevent us Mexicans from achieving the minimum goals we have set out but will cause a great setback," he said.
But opposition firebrand, Mr Porfirio Munoz Ledo, making an unprecedented reply to the annual Mexican presidential address, warned Mr Zedillo that "knowing how to govern is also knowing how to listen and how to correct mistakes".
Underlining the president's desire for a more modest, democratic role, several changes were made to protocol. Ambassadors, army top brass and church leaders were not invited, nearby streets were not closed off and the head of the presidential guard did not stand behind Mr Zedillo as he spoke.
Reeling off statistic after statistic about rising hospital admissions, bumper grain harvests and new anti-poverty programmes, Mr Zedillo devoted much of his speech to social policy - an issue critics say his government largely ignored in its first two years.
Monday's events came in the wake of July 6th elections that gave the opposition new powers. It also followed tense debate prior to the opening of Congress over the precise format of Mr Zedillo's report to the nation, which is among the most-awaited political events of the year.
Since the PRI's creation in 1929, Congress had traditionally acted as the rubber stamp for an all-powerful presidential will.
Now, a newly emboldened opposition declared its desire to bring a fuller democracy to Spanish America's biggest nation.
The opposition tinkered with the ceremony, changing it from a day to a night event, and insisted one of its representatives should be able to reply to Mr Zedillo.
The challenge sent shockwaves through Mexico's political system and PRI legislators threatened to boycott the speech, which would have forced Mr Zedillo to cancel his address for lack of a quorum.
"It's important to note that we came very close to things turning out very wrong," said Mr Jorge Castaneda, one of Mexico's best known political commentators.
"I think that tomorrow [Tuesday] the markets are going to react very positively to this. But, we were very close to the abyss," he added.