1982 Mexican general election


General elections were held in Mexico on 4 July 1982. The presidential elections were won by Miguel de la Madrid, who received 74.3% of the vote. In the Chamber of Deputies election, the Institutional Revolutionary Party won 299 of the 372 seats, as well as winning 63 of the 64 seats in the Senate election. Voter turnout was 74.8% in the presidential election and 72.6% and 66.4% for the two parts of the Chamber elections.
Rosario Ybarra, who was nominated presidential candidate by the Revolutionary Workers' Party, was the first woman ever to run for president in a Mexican election.

Background

The previous presidential elections, celebrated in 1976, had featured only one presidential candidate. The lack of any opposition in that election raised serious doubts, nationally and internationally, regarding the legitimacy of the Mexican political system under the PRI, which had been in power since 1929. Due to this, a :es:Reforma política en México de 1977|political reform was passed in 1977 which allowed many more parties to compete in federal elections as well as providing better representation for opposition parties in the Chamber of the Deputies.
As a result, nine political parties were able to participate in the 1982 elections. In the presidential election, there were seven registered candidates, which at the time was the biggest number of candidates registered in a presidential election and was a stark contrast with the single-candidate election of 1976.
Nonetheless, these proved to be rather cosmethic changes, as the PRI continued to be the dominant party and practices of vote buying and electoral fraud remained widespread. It wasn't until the mid-to-late 80's that the PRI began to face real challenges at the state and federal levels by opposition parties.

Results

President

Senate

Chamber of Deputies