General elections were held in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), 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 Guatema ...

on 7 July 1940.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An expe ...

(2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p453 The presidential elections were won by

Manuel Ávila Camacho Manuel Ávila Camacho (; 24 April 1897 – 13 October 1955) was a Mexican politician and military leader who served as the President of Mexico from 1940 to 1946. Despite participating in the Mexican Revolution and achieving a high rank, he cam ...

, who received 94% of the vote. In the Chamber of Deputies election, the

Party of the Mexican Revolution The Institutional Revolutionary Party ( es, Partido Revolucionario Institucional, ; abbr. PRI) is a political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 and held uninterrupted power in the country for 71 years, from 1929 to 2000, first as the Nati ...

(''Partido de la Revolución Mexicana'', PRM) won all but one of the 173 seats. The campaign was very intense, with clashes between Camacho's and Almazán's supporters becoming common throughout the electoral process. The elections were the most violent in Mexican history, with clashes between Camacho's and Almazán's supporters on election day resulting in at least 47 deaths and 400 people being injured. 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 Francisco José Múgica Velázquez (3 September 1884 – 12 April 1954) was a Mexican military Mexican Revolution, revolutionary, major general and politician. He participated in the Constituent Congress of 1917 that produced the Constitution of ...

was seen as the likely successor of President

Lázaro Cárdenas Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (; 21 May 1895 – 19 October 1970) was a Mexican army officer and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Born in Jiquilpan, Michoacán, to a working-class family, Cárdenas joined the M ...

due to their shared leftist ideology, in the end President Cárdenas appointed

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 The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in the aftermath of the bloody

Cristero War The Cristero War ( es, Guerra Cristera), also known as the Cristero Rebellion or es, La Cristiada, label=none, italics=no , was a widespread struggle in central and western Mexico from 1 August 1926 to 21 June 1929 in response to the implementa ...

, 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?" DiazFoxMODO07.JPG, Ávila Camacho campaign items AlmazanBroches.JPG, Almazán campaign buttons Mexicocampana1940bonos.JPG, Contribution bonds for the Ávila Camacho and Almazán campaigns Nevertheless, most Mexican conservatives chose to support an opposition candidate, which they found in

Juan Andreu Almazán Juan Andreu Almazán (May 12, 1891 – October 9, 1965) was a Mexican revolutionary general, politician and businessman. He held high posts in the Mexican Army in the 1920s and ran for the presidency of Mexico in 1940 in a highly disputed elect ...

. A former revolutionary combatant who later served as Communications Minister under

Pascual Ortiz Rubio Pascual Ortiz Rubio (; 10 March 1877 – 4 November 1963) was a first Mexican President of Mexico from 1930 to 1932. He was one of three Mexican presidents to serve out the six-year term (1928–1934) of assassinated president-elect Álvaro O ...

'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

On election day, a group of Almazán's supporters attempted to get into the

National Palace Buildings called National Palace include: * National Palace (Dominican Republic), in Santo Domingo *National Palace (El Salvador), in San Salvador *National Palace (Ethiopia), in Addis Ababa; also known as the Jubilee Palace * National Palace (Guate ...

to protest against the alleged electoral fraud that was taking place. In response,

Paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

groups shot and killed many of them. The violence in Mexico City on election day was so severe that President

himself was unable to vote at his

polling place A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English and British English, although polling place is the building

until the nearby violence calmed down. There were violent incidents in other parts of the country as well.

Results

President

Chamber of Deputies

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

La Habana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, unsuccessfully seeking support from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, which recognized Ávila Camacho's victory (although the U.S. government had opposed Cárdenas' social reforms, they saw Almazán's alleged

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

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

{{Mexican elections Presidential elections in Mexico

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Legislative elections in Mexico July 1940 events Election and referendum articles with incomplete results