1934 Mexican general election

none April 2026 1934 Mexico 1 July 1934 yes Presidential election presidential 1929 Mexican presidential election 1929 1940 Mexican general election 1940 Lazaro cardenas2.jpg Lázaro Cárdenas PNR 2,225,000 98.19% Antonio I Villareal.jpg Antonio Villarreal CPRI FF0000 24,395 1.08% President Abelardo L. Rodríguez PNR Lázaro Cárdenas PNR General elections were held in Mexico on 1 July 1934. The presidential elections were won by Lázaro Cárdenas, who received 98% of the vote.Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p472 978-0-19-928357-6 Background After Álvaro Obregón’s attempt to seek reelection in 1928 ended in his assassination, Article 83 of the Constitution was amended in 1933, abolishing presidential reelection once and for all.Centro de Documentación y Análisis, Archivos y Compilación de Leyes TÍTULO TERCERO CAPÍTULO III DEL PODER EJECUTIVO https://www.scjn.gob.mx/sites/default/files/cpeum/documento/2020-05/CPEUM-083.pdf Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación 1 April 2026 The 1934 campaign and elections took place during the final phase of the period known as the Maximato; since 1924, Plutarco Elías Calles (self-proclaimed “Maximum Leader of the Revolution”) had been the most powerful figure in the country (between 1924 and 1928 de jure, as President, and from 1928 onward de facto as the “power behind the throne” while three presidents succeeded one another). Calles’s founding of the National Revolutionary Party (Partido Nacional Revolucionario, PNR) in 1929 had succeeded, on the one hand, in ensuring the country’s institutional continuity following the assassination of Álvaro Obregón in 1928 and in preventing another government collapse resulting from a new armed rebellionKrauze, Enrique. Mexico: Biography of Power. pp. 429-31 (as evidenced by the defeat of the Escobar rebellion in 1929),Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática La revolución mexicana: atlas histórico 1991 118 https://www.inegi.org.mx/contenidos/productos/prod_serv/contenidos/espanol/bvinegi/productos/historicos/2104/702825460167/702825460167_13.pdf while, on the other hand, it had also succeeded in consolidating Calles’s own power. In the 1929 election, the party nominated Pascual Ortiz Rubio as its presidential candidate; he was declared the winner amid allegations of fraud by the opposition candidate, José Vasconcelos.Figueroa Anaya Enrique Las elecciones de 1929 2016-06-28 Reconoce MX es http://www.reconoce.mx/las-elecciones-de-1929/ https://web.archive.org/web/20160703171123/http://www.reconoce.mx/las-elecciones-de-1929/ dead 2016-07-03 2018-08-19 Ortiz Rubio, whose term was set to last until 1 December 1934, took office on 5 February 1930; he resigned on 2 September 1932, in protest over Calles' excessive interference in his government. Congress appointed Abelardo L. Rodríguez, another protégé of Calles, to complete his term.Aguilar Casas Elsa Serrano Álvarez Pablo Martínez Ocampo, Lourdes Posrevolucionario y estabilidad. Cronología (1917-1967) 2012 Instituto Nacional de Estudios Históricos de las Revoluciones de México es https://inehrm.gob.mx/work/models/inehrm/Resource/437/1/images/posrevolucion_estabilidad.pdf 978-607-7916-65-9 84 As the campaign for the 1934 elections got underway, there was growing discontent in the country over Calles’s continued hold on power.Basurto Jorge Populismo y movilización de masas en México durante el régimen cardenista Revista Mexicana de Sociología October-December 1969 31 4 865 https://revistamexicanadesociologia.unam.mx/index.php/rms/article/view/58526 10 April 2026 Spanish Jorge Basurto argues that "the country had not made much progress since the overthrow of the Porfirian dictatorship: successive governments had not dared to confront the landowning elite, so the agrarian structures remained practically as General Díaz had left them. Industry was far from having made significant strides in its development, and the nationalist elements that had initially characterized the men of the Revolution were disappearing due to the policy of concessions to foreign capital, implemented by the Maximato.”Basurto Jorge Populismo y movilización de masas en México durante el régimen cardenista Revista Mexicana de Sociología October-December 1969 31 4 866 https://revistamexicanadesociologia.unam.mx/index.php/rms/article/view/58526 10 April 2026 Spanish Parties and candidates PNR and Cárdenas 150px|thumb|left|Manuel Pérez Treviño (pictured) had initially been favored by Calles for the PNR's presidential nomination, but he withdrew his pre-candidacy in June 1933. 150px|thumb|right|General Lázaro Cárdenas (pictured) was supported by the agrarian faction of the PNR, and Calles himself eventually decided to back him. Calles had initially favored Manuel Pérez Treviño (president of the PNR) or Carlos Riva Palacio es (senator and former Secretary of the Interior) as potential PNR presidential candidates for the 1934 elections. Rojas Beatriz La sucesión presidencial de 1934 y la familia revolucionaria Relaciones. Estudios de Historia y Sociedad Autumn 1980 1 4 41 https://sitios.colmich.edu.mx/relaciones25/index.php/numeros-anteriores/10-articulos/1754-articulo-4-la-sucesion-presidencial-de-1934-y-la-familia-revolucionaria 10 April 2026 Spanish However, the agrarian faction within the party opposed the candidacies of Pérez Treviño or Riva Palacio and instead sought to put forward its own candidate. Within this faction, the most prominent figures were Lázaro Cárdenas (governor of Michoacán), Saturnino Cedillo (former governor and cacique of San Luis Potosí), and Adalberto Tejeda (governor of Veracruz). Rojas Beatriz La sucesión presidencial de 1934 y la familia revolucionaria Relaciones. Estudios de Historia y Sociedad Autumn 1980 1 4 42 https://sitios.colmich.edu.mx/relaciones25/index.php/numeros-anteriores/10-articulos/1754-articulo-4-la-sucesion-presidencial-de-1934-y-la-familia-revolucionaria 10 April 2026 Spanish Cárdenas had drawn attention “for being a staunch supporter of land distribution among needy peasants and of both labor and peasant organizations”. At the same time, he had sought to remain neutral in the political struggles of the elite, thereby avoiding making enemies.Cárdenas Lázaro Apuntes 1972 UNAM 184-185, 204 Rojas argues that Tejeda, on the other hand, “had earned the enmity of a sector of the army, led by General Amaro, in addition to facing the open hostility of a significant segment of public opinion—the private sector—which saw Don Adalberto as Bolshevism incarnate” due to his support for the armed agrarianists of Veracruz. Rojas Beatriz La sucesión presidencial de 1934 y la familia revolucionaria Relaciones. Estudios de Historia y Sociedad Autumn 1980 1 4 42 https://sitios.colmich.edu.mx/relaciones25/index.php/numeros-anteriores/10-articulos/1754-articulo-4-la-sucesion-presidencial-de-1934-y-la-familia-revolucionaria 10 April 2026 Spanish In January 1933, Cedillo denied having any interest in the PNR’s presidential candidacy, and the agrarian faction began to rally around Cárdenas’s pre-candidacy,Rojas Beatriz La sucesión presidencial de 1934 y la familia revolucionaria Relaciones. Estudios de Historia y Sociedad Autumn 1980 1 4 46 https://sitios.colmich.edu.mx/relaciones25/index.php/numeros-anteriores/10-articulos/1754-articulo-4-la-sucesion-presidencial-de-1934-y-la-familia-revolucionaria 10 April 2026 Spanish who also had the support of former President Emilio Portes Gil, as well as that of Calles’s sons.Rojas Beatriz La sucesión presidencial de 1934 y la familia revolucionaria Relaciones. Estudios de Historia y Sociedad Autumn 1980 1 4 43, 50 https://sitios.colmich.edu.mx/relaciones25/index.php/numeros-anteriores/10-articulos/1754-articulo-4-la-sucesion-presidencial-de-1934-y-la-familia-revolucionaria 10 April 2026 Spanish In January 1933, Cárdenas was appointed Secretary of War and Navy. In May 1933, several agrarian organizations across the country, as well as a group of Deputies and Senators, publicly announced their support for Cárdenas.Sucesiones, Destapes y Elecciones Presidenciales 1916-1988 (Vol. I) 1993 El Universal 163-166 968-6243-24-0 That same month, both Cárdenas and Pérez Treviño resigned from their posts (as Secretary of War and President of the PNR, respectively) in order to run for the party’s presidential nomination. Anguiano Equihua wrote that that same month, Calles informed him and other party members present that he had decided to back Cárdenas.Equihua Anguiano Lázaro Cárdenas, su feudo y la política nacional 1951 Eréndira 95-96 On 8 June, Pérez Treviño publicly withdrew his pre-candidacy and asked his supporters to back Cárdenas.Sucesiones, Destapes y Elecciones Presidenciales 1916-1988 (Vol. I) 1993 El Universal 166 968-6243-24-0Rojas Beatriz La sucesión presidencial de 1934 y la familia revolucionaria Relaciones. Estudios de Historia y Sociedad Autumn 1980 1 4 61 https://sitios.colmich.edu.mx/relaciones25/index.php/numeros-anteriores/10-articulos/1754-articulo-4-la-sucesion-presidencial-de-1934-y-la-familia-revolucionaria 10 April 2026 Spanish Following this announcement, Pérez Treviño re-assumed the presidency of the PNR, which sparked protests among several Cárdenas supporters, a group of whom wrote to Pérez Treviño that “leaving the party in your hands is like ‘putting the church in Luther’s hands.’”Rojas Beatriz La sucesión presidencial de 1934 y la familia revolucionaria Relaciones. Estudios de Historia y Sociedad Autumn 1980 1 4 67 https://sitios.colmich.edu.mx/relaciones25/index.php/numeros-anteriores/10-articulos/1754-articulo-4-la-sucesion-presidencial-de-1934-y-la-familia-revolucionaria 10 April 2026 Spanish Cárdenas's supporters also resented the imposition of the Six-Year Plan (Plan Sexenal), drafted under the direction of Calles Tuck Jim http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/310-mr-clean-the-phenomenon-of-l%C3%A1zaro-c%C3%A1rdenas-1895%E2%80%931970 Mr. Clean: the phenomenon of Lázaro Cárdenas (1895–1970) : Mexico History Mexconnect.com October 15, 2011 (who in September 1933 had replaced Alberto Pani as Secretary of Finance) and which intended to dictate the general policy of the 1934–1940 term. On 1 June 1933, the PNR issued its official call for nominations to select its candidate for President of the Republic, stipulating that the nomination would take place during the party’s Ordinary Convention (scheduled for December 3–6 of that year in Querétaro) through a secret ballot by state delegates. However, just as had happened with Ortiz Rubio in 1929, Cárdenas (who was the only pre-candidate) was chosen as the party’s presidential candidate by acclamation, rather than by a secret ballot of the delegates, on 6 December.Zúñiga Aguilar Manuel Partido Nacional Revolucionario (PNR). Método y práctica en la selección de candidatos a puestos de elección popular (1929–1938) Estudios Políticos 2011 24 42 https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0185-16162011000300003 10 April 2026Sucesiones, Destapes y Elecciones Presidenciales 1916-1988 (Vol. I) 1993 El Universal 174-175 968-6243-24-0 Although Calles had announced his support for Cárdenas as early as May, Basurto argues that he did so “half-heartedly” and considers Cárdenas’s nomination to have been Calles's “first defeat in a long time”.Basurto Jorge Populismo y movilización de masas en México durante el régimen cardenista Revista Mexicana de Sociología October-December 1969 31 4 866-867 https://revistamexicanadesociologia.unam.mx/index.php/rms/article/view/58526 10 April 2026 Spanish CRPI and Villarreal On 3 October 1933, a public assembly was held to create the Revolutionary Confederation of Independent Parties (Confederación Revolucionaria de Partidos Independientes, CRPI).Mac Gregor Campuzano Javier La Confederación Revolucionaria de Partidos Independientes, 1933-1934: entre la reacción y el progreso Iztapalapa 1998 44 221 https://revistaiztapalapa.izt.uam.mx/index.php/izt/article/view/1395 12 April 2026 The three main leaders of the CRPI were Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama, Aurelio Manrique, and Antonio Villarreal;Mac Gregor Campuzano Javier La Confederación Revolucionaria de Partidos Independientes, 1933-1934: entre la reacción y el progreso Iztapalapa 1998 44 219 https://revistaiztapalapa.izt.uam.mx/index.php/izt/article/view/1395 12 April 2026 all three had participated in the failed Escobarista rebellion of 1929. According to Villarreal, the CRPI had the support of, among others, the Anti-Reelectionist Party and the Constitutionalist Liberal Party [es].Sucesiones, Destapes y Elecciones Presidenciales 1916-1988 (Vol. I) 1993 El Universal 170 968-6243-24-0 Villarreal, who had spent several years in the U.S. following the failure of the Escobarista rebellion, managed to return to Mexico in 1933 in time to participate in the 1934 electionsSucesiones, Destapes y Elecciones Presidenciales 1916-1988 (Vol. I) 1993 El Universal 169-172 968-6243-24-0 (article 82 of the Constitution stipulates that to be President, one must have resided in the country for at least the entire year prior to election day). On 22 March 1934, the CRPI obtained its legal registration, and its convention was held from 31 March to 1 April, during which Villarreal’s candidacy was formally proclaimed by acclamation,Sucesiones, Destapes y Elecciones Presidenciales 1916-1988 (Vol. I) 1993 El Universal 176 968-6243-24-0 although he had already been campaigning for months.Mac Gregor Campuzano Javier La Confederación Revolucionaria de Partidos Independientes, 1933-1934: entre la reacción y el progreso Iztapalapa 1998 44 226 https://revistaiztapalapa.izt.uam.mx/index.php/izt/article/view/1395 12 April 2026 PSI and Tejeda 150px|thumb|left|Adalberto Tejeda was the candidate of the Socialist Party of the Left. Since late 1932, there had been speculation in the media about the possible candidacy of Adalberto Tejeda,Mac Gregor Campuzano Javier El Partido Socialista de las Izquierdas: organización, proyecto político y participación electoral,1933-1940 Signos Históricos July-December 2009 22 151-152 https://signoshistoricos.izt.uam.mx/index.php/historicos/article/view/317 12 April 2026 the agrarian governor of Veracruz, who at the time was a member of the PNR. Once it became clear that Lázaro Cárdenas would be the PNR’s presidential candidate (and specially after Cárdenas, as Secretary of War, disarmed the agrarianists of Veracruz),Rojas Beatriz La sucesión presidencial de 1934 y la familia revolucionaria Relaciones. Estudios de Historia y Sociedad Autumn 1980 1 4 46 https://sitios.colmich.edu.mx/relaciones25/index.php/numeros-anteriores/10-articulos/1754-articulo-4-la-sucesion-presidencial-de-1934-y-la-familia-revolucionaria 10 April 2026 Spanish Tejeda publicly announced his departure from the party.Mac Gregor Campuzano Javier El Partido Socialista de las Izquierdas: organización, proyecto político y participación electoral,1933-1940 Signos Históricos July-December 2009 22 153 https://signoshistoricos.izt.uam.mx/index.php/historicos/article/view/317 12 April 2026 The Socialist Party of the Left (Partido Socialista de las Izquierdas, PSI), created ad hoc to support Tejeda’s presidential candidacy, obtained its legal registration on October 10, 1933.Mac Gregor Campuzano Javier El Partido Socialista de las Izquierdas: organización, proyecto político y participación electoral,1933-1940 Signos Históricos July-December 2009 22 157 https://signoshistoricos.izt.uam.mx/index.php/historicos/article/view/317 12 April 2026 Some PNR Deputies aligned with Tejeda changed their party affiliation and joined the PSI.Mac Gregor Campuzano Javier El Partido Socialista de las Izquierdas: organización, proyecto político y participación electoral,1933-1940 Signos Históricos July-December 2009 22 160-161 https://signoshistoricos.izt.uam.mx/index.php/historicos/article/view/317 12 April 2026 Tejeda formally accepted the nomination from the PSI on 15 January 1934.Mac Gregor Campuzano Javier El Partido Socialista de las Izquierdas: organización, proyecto político y participación electoral,1933-1940 Signos Históricos July-December 2009 22 162 https://signoshistoricos.izt.uam.mx/index.php/historicos/article/view/317 12 April 2026 BOCN and Hernán Laborde 150px|thumb|right|Hernán Laborde was the candidate of the National Workers’ and Peasants’ Bloc. The Mexican Communist Party, which had been banned since 1925, ran in the 1934 elections under the name “National Workers’ and Peasants’ Bloc” (Bloque Obrero y Campesino Nacional, BOCN).Mac Gregor Campuzano Javier Bandera Roja: órgano comunista de información político-electoral, 1934 Signos Históricos January-June 2003 9 109 https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/344/34400905.pdf 12 April 2026Peláez Ramos Gerardo Partido Comunista Mexicano: su historia electoral https://www.lahaine.org/b2-img11/pelaez_elect.pdf During the BOCN Convention, held in Mexico City on March 29 and 30, 1934, Hernán Laborde was unanimously elected by the 101 delegates as the party’s presidential candidate.Mac Gregor Campuzano Javier Bandera Roja: órgano comunista de información político-electoral, 1934 Signos Históricos January-June 2003 9 112 https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/344/34400905.pdf 12 April 2026 Results President Lázaro Cárdenas National Revolutionary Party 2225000 Antonio Villarreal Revolutionary Confederation of Independent Parties 24395 #FF0000 Adalberto Tejeda Olivares Socialist Party of the Left 16037 #FF0000 Hernán Laborde National Workers’ and Peasants’ Bloc 539 Nohlen References Category:Presidential elections in Mexico General General Category:Election and referendum articles with incomplete results