The Mexican Elections of 1958: Affirmation of Authoritarianism?

DOI10.1177/106591296001300312
AuthorPhilip B. Taylor
Date01 September 1960
Published date01 September 1960
Subject MatterArticles
722
THE
MEXICAN
ELECTIONS
OF
1958:
AFFIRMATION
OF
AUTHORITARIANISM?
PHILIP
B.
TAYLOR,
JR.
Newcomb
College
N
PREPARATION
for
the
new
government
which
came
to
office
on
Decem-
ber
1,
1958
in
Mexico,
the
regular
sexennial
election
was
held
on
the
first
Sunday
of
July,
the
sixth.1
Of
the
10,422,122
persons
registered
to
vote,
4,586,343
were
women,
who
were
voting
for
the
presidency
for
the
first
time
in
Mexican
history.2
Adolfo
L6pez
Mateos,
the
candidate
of
the
Partido
Revolu-
cionario
Institucional
(PRI)
and
of
two
minor
parties,3
received
6,769,754
votes
out
of
7,485,402
cast.
The
PRI
also
received
a
majority
of
the
votes
counted
in
all
60
senatorial
races
and
in
161
of
the
162
deputy’s
races.4
4
This
brief
accounting
of
the
election
offers
nothing
surprising.
The
PRI’s
candidates
regularly
have
received
at
least
75
per
cent
of
the
votes
cast
for
the
presidency.
Its
leaders
reached
the
decision
some
time
ago
that
the
arbitrary
assignment
of
a
few
thousand
votes
out
of
perhaps
millions,
as
was
the
case
in
most
early
elections,
could
not
delude
many
at
home
or
abroad
into
recognizing
the
political
process
in
Mexico
as
free.
Actually,
any
other
result
than
that
of
1958
would
have
been
not
only
amazing
but
somewhat
dangerous.
The
opposi-
tion
candidate,
Luis
Hector
Alvarez,
of
the
Partido
de
Acci6n
Nacional
(PAN),
seemingly
sure
that
he
could
not
win,
had
made
such
demagogic
promises
that
his
victory
would
have
placed
an
untenable
burden
on
both
the
governmental
and
social
structure
of
the
country.
What
is
surprising
is
that
the
campaign
and
1
Articles
81
and
83
of
the
Constitution
of
1917;
Article
2
of
the
Federal
Electoral
Law
of
Decem-
ber
5,
1951
(
Diario
Official
of
that
date).
2
Adolfo
Ruiz
Cortines
included
the
amendment
of
the relevant
article
of
the
Constitution,
Article
34,
in
his
1952
campaign
platform.
The
amendment
became
effective
after
the
re-
required
congressional
and
executive
action
on
October
13,
1953.
Diario
Official,
that
date.
See
also
Excelsior
(Mexico
City),
October
7,
1953,
for
a
legislative
history
of
the
bill.
Reg-
istration
of
voters
occurred
between
November
4,
1957
and
April
30,
1958,
at
21,426
offices
throughout
the
country
established
by
the
Registro
Nacional
de
Electores,
headed
by
one
of
Mexico’s
leading
demographers,
Andrés
Landa
y
Piña.
Excelsior,
November
3,
1957
and
May
31,
1958.
At
the
1952
registration,
4,924,293
men
were
registered.
As
the
result
of
the
opening
of
the
franchise
to
women
in
1953,
8,329,000
persons
were
registered
in
the
"off-year"
congressional
elections of
1955.
New
York
Times,
May
4,
1958.
Under
the Federal
Election
Law all
qualified
to
vote
must
register.
Those
eligible
are
persons
18
years
or
over
if
married,
21
if
not
married
(Article
52,
par.
2).
All
registered
voters
must
vote
(Article
61,
par.
1).
Both
provisions
are
enforceable
by
fines
of
10
to
300
pesos
and
by
three
days
to
six
months
in
jail,
although
this
writer
has
never
heard
of
in-
stances
of
enforcement.
3
López
was
also
nominated
by
the
Partido
Nacionalista
de
México
and
by
the
Partido
Auténtico
de la
Revolución
Mexicana.
The
Partido
Popular,
a
leftist
party
led
by
Vicente
Lombardo
Toledano,
offered
to
endorse
López
provided
he
would
meet
certain
conditions
it
wished
to
impose
on
him.
Although
López
rejected
this
offer
the
PP
did
not
adopt
another
candi-
date,
but
urged
its
members
to
vote
for
him.
Excelsior,
November
22-24,
1947.
See
Jueves
de
Excelsior
(hereinafter,
Jueves
),
May
1,
1958,
p.
29,
for
a
biographical
story
on
López.
4
During
the
1958
sitting
of
the
Congress,
156
deputy
awards
were
made.
PRI
received
146,
PAN
6,
PP
1,
PNM
1,
and
PARM
2.
Four
of
the
PAN
members
took
their
seats,
including
the
one
from
Yucatán
district
1,
which
the
PRI
had
conceded
to
that
party;
and
the
one
PP
deputy
also
took
the
oath
of
office.
All
five
were
expelled
by
their
parties.
Excelsior,
October
15,
1958;
Tiempo
(Mexico
City),
December
8,
1958,
p.
53;
and
December
15,
1958,
p.
14.
723
subsequent
election
were
held
almost
without
violence.
The
verbal
violence of
PAN
created
only
one
genuine
martyr
during
the
entire
period.5
Surveyors
of
Mexico’s
politics
who
seldom
look
much
below
the
surface
have been
prone
to
make
snide
remarks
about
the
certainty
of
PRI
victory.
Such
an
attitude
does
not
do
justice
to
the
heterogeneity
of
Mexican
life.
One
could
scarcely
expect
much
uniformity
in
a
country
of
34,000,000
people.
The
PRI
is
itself
about
as
united
on
the
details
of
ideology
today,
or
on
personalities,
as
are
the
great
parties
of
the
United
States.
The
apparent
walkaway
the
PRI
scores
in
every
election
is
partly
the
product
of
an
almost
mystical
commitment
by
the
great
majority
of
Mexicans
to
the
party
as
the
only
proper
channel
through
which
to
express
political
opinions.
But
it
is
also
partly
the
product
of
a
fence-mending
process
which
is
continuous,
and
which
is
managed
with
at
least
as
much
skill
as
was
ever
exhibited
by
a
Jim
Farley.
It
appeared
that
1958
marked
the
end
of
a
period
in
Mexican
politics.
The
.
survivors
among
the
old
revolutionists,
who
participated
in
the
fighting
from
1910
to
1920,
and
who
are
now
dying
off
in
increasing
numbers,
have
jockeyed
constantly
within
the
&dquo;revolutionary
family&dquo;
for
personal
position.
Failing
of
success,
individuals
often
have
split
momentarily
from
the
victorious
majority
and
have
sought
independent
backing
from
the
voters.
They
seem
to
have
lost
the
battle
with
the
machine,
perhaps
forever.
On
the
other
hand,
the
internal
victory
has
not
assured
a
calm
political
future
for
the
machine’s
conductors.
The
election
was
held
amid
genuine
and
bitter
unrest.
In
1958
the
PRI
succeeded
in
eliminating
the
open
political
stage
as
the
setting
for
enacting
the
drama
of
the
search
for
power
and
accommoda-
tion ;
in
the
summer
of
1958,
the
streets
became
the
stage,
and
the
players,
merely
unionized
government
employees.
But
behind
the
street
fronts
the
struggle
goes
on.
Constitutional
federalism
may
be
a
myth,
as
is
normally
al-
leged
by
students
of
Mexican
politics.
But
functional
federalism
exists,
and
ren-
ders
the
decision-making
process
the
same
sort
of
arena
for
conflicting
forces
that
can
be
found
in
any
country
of
Mexico’s
size.6
It
is
the
thesis
of
this
paper
that
the
PRI
must
accommodate
these
changing
forces,
or
it
may
lost
its
control.
Up
to
this
writing
it
has
shown
itself
reluctant
or
unable
to
do
so.
For
all
the
ease
of
his
victory,
therefore,
L6pez
will
be
as
hedged
about
with
interests
and
forces
as
any
democratically
elected
chief
of
state.
The
ma-
chinery
at
his
disposal,
superficially,
appears
as
fit
for
the
task
and
as
tightly
knit
as
any
devised
by
any
authoritarian
regime.
But
the
forces
which
showed
their
hands,
while
at
the
same
time
electing
him,
will
make
his
tenure
of
office
dif-
ficult
while
yet
holding
him
responsible
for
the
eventual
outcome.
5
On
June
15,
1958,
José
de
Jesús
Marquéz
Monreal,
a
young
PAN
worker
and
minor
leader,
was
shot
in
cold
blood
in
the
city
of
Chihuahua.
In
spite
of
detailed
eye-witness
testimony,
no
arrests
were
ever
made.
Excelsior,
June
16-19,
1958.
On
May
15,
Alvarez,
the
PAN
presi-
dential
candidate,
was
shot
at
in
Tlalnepantla,
Mexico
State;
on
June
10,
in
Santa
Cruz,
Chihuahua,
he
was
stoned;
on
the
ninth
of
January,
the
son
of
the
police
chief
of
Fresnillo,
Zacatecas,
tried
to
break
up
a
meeting
addressed
by
Alvarez
at
gun
point;
the
next
day
Alvarez
was
jailed
briefly
in
Jalpa,
Zacatecas.
Alvarez
emerged
from
these
various
ex-
periences
without
harm,
however,
and
with
some
show
of
personal
courage.
See
Excelsior
reports
in
each
case
on
the
day
after
the
date
of
the
incidents.
6
The
writer
is
indebted
to
Professor
Kalman
Silvert
for
this
conceptualization.

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