1940 Mexican general election

none 1934 Mexico 7 July 1940 yes Presidential election presidential 1934 Mexican general election 1934 1946 Mexican general election 1946 Manuel Avila Camacho.jpg Manuel Ávila Camacho PRM 2,476,641 93.90% Juan Andrew Almazán.JPG Juan Andreu Almazán PRUN 00FF00 151,101 5.73% President Lázaro Cárdenas PRM Manuel Ávila Camacho PRM General elections were held in Mexico on 7 July 1940.Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p453 978-0-19-928357-6 The presidential elections were won by Manuel Ávila Camacho, who received 94% of the vote. In the Chamber of Deputies election, the Party of the Mexican Revolution (Partido de la Revolución Mexicana, PRM) won all but one of the 173 seats.Nohlen, p468 The campaign was very intense, with clashes between Camacho's and Almazán's supporters becoming common throughout the electoral process. This election was notorious for the violent incidents that occurred on election day, resulting in at least 47 deaths and 400 people being injured (most of which were due to an attempt by Almazán supporters to break into the National Palace in protest over an alleged electoral fraud). This was the only presidential election in which the PRM participated under that name. It had been the National Revolutionary Party (Partido Nacional Revolucionario, PNR) from 1929 to 1938, being renamed Party of the Mexican Revolution (Partido de la Revolución Mexicana, PRM) in 1938, and again changing its name in 1946 to Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI), which remains its current name. Campaign Although initially Francisco José Múgica was seen as the likely successor of President Lázaro Cárdenas due to their shared leftist ideology, in the end President Cárdenas appointed Manuel Ávila Camacho as the PRM's presidential candidate. The decision was made due to Ávila Camacho's perceived conciliatory nature and the fact that he was a devout Catholic, which was crucial to defuse tensions between the Party and the Catholic Church in the aftermath of the bloody Cristero War, as well as to appeal to the conservative sectors of the country which had fiercely opposed Cárdenas social reforms. Cárdenas himself explained: "Gral. Múgica, a very dear friend of mine, was a widely known radical. We had barely avoided a civil war and we were putting up with tremendous international pressure due to the oil expropriation. What use could there be in a radical?"Serna Guillermo Tántalo https://www.elsiglodetorreon.com.mx/noticia/765016.tantalo.html 17 July 2020 El Siglo de Torreón Nevertheless, most Mexican conservatives chose to support an opposition candidate, which they found in Juan Andreu Almazán. A former revolutionary combatant who later served as Communications Minister under Pascual Ortiz Rubio's administration and accumulated great wealth from construction works, Almazán presented himself as a right-wing candidate who would put an end to the "Comunazi degeneration" of the Cárdenas administration, although he promised to maintain the social reforms in case he won. Conduct A group of Almazán's supporters attempted to get into the National Palace in Mexico City to protest against the alleged electoral fraud that was taking place. In response, Paramilitary groups shot and killed many of them. President Lázaro Cárdenas himself was unable to vote at his polling place until the nearby violence calmed down.Cortesi Arnaldo 47 slain as Mexico votes; troops called in Capital; both sides claim victory http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2548832/posts 19 August 2018 The New York Times 8 July 1940 There were violent incidents in other parts of the country as well. Results President Manuel Ávila Camacho Party of the Mexican Revolution 2476641 Juan Andreu Almazán Revolutionary Party of National Unification 151101 #00FF00 Rafael Sánchez Tapía Independent 9840 Nohlen Chamber of Deputies File:México Cámara de Diputados del Congreso de la Unión 1940.svg Party of the Mexican Revolution 172 Revolutionary Party of National Unification 1 #00FF00 Nohlen Aftermath Almazán refused to recognize the official results, claiming that the PRM had organized the violence against his supporters, as well as accusing it of stealing ballot boxes and preventing Almazán's supporters from voting for him. Afterwards, Almazán fled to Havana, unsuccessfully seeking support from the United States, which recognized Ávila Camacho's victory (although the U.S. government had opposed Cárdenas' social reforms, they saw Almazán's alleged fascist sympathies as a bigger threat). When it became clear that it would be impossible to change the results, Almazán gave up on the idea of a violent revolt. He returned to Mexico and attended the inauguration of Ávila Camacho. References Category:Presidential elections in Mexico General Category:Legislative elections in Mexico Mexico Category:Election and referendum articles with incomplete results