The first campaign

By Lillian Briseño

Today, as the electoral campaigns begin in Mexico to define who will occupy the Executive for the next six years, it is worth remembering the first time a candidate launched a campaign.

It is considered that the first presidential campaign in Mexico was that of Francisco I. Madero, between 1908 and 1910, with the fundamental purpose of defeating the long-lived Porfirio Diaz.

As is well known, Diaz occupied the presidential chair from 1876 to 1911, with an interruption between 1880 and 1884 when Manuel Gonzalez governed, since the Constitution prohibited reelection. And since Diaz himself rose up in 1876 with the Plan de Tuxtepec and the argument of No reelection against Lerdo de Tejada, it would have been politically incorrect to disavow such a principle so quickly, so he had to accept that brief intermission.