2012 Mexican general election

1 July 2012
Presidential election
← 2006 2018 →
Turnout	63.08% ( 4.53pp)
Nominee Enrique Peña Nieto Andrés Manuel López Obrador Josefina Vázquez Mota Party PRI PRD PAN Alliance Commitment to Mexico Progressive Movement Popular vote 19,158,592 15,848,827 12,732,630 Percentage 39.17% 32.41% 26.03%
Results by state Results by constituency
President before election Felipe Calderón PAN ElectedPresident Enrique Peña Nieto PRI
Senate
← 2006 2018 →
outgoing members elected members
All 128 seats in theSenate of the Republic 65 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– Commitment to Mexico (61 seats) PRI Pedro Joaquín Coldwell 33.00 52 +19 PVEM Carlos Alberto Puente Salas 6.06 9 +3 Progressive Movement (28 seats) PRD Jesús Zambrano Grijalva 19.69 22 −4 PT Alberto Anaya 4.92 4 0 MC Luis Walton Aburto [es] 4.26 2 −4 Other (39 seats) PAN Gustavo Madero Muñoz 27.87 38 −14 PNA Luis Castro Obregón [es] 3.91 1 0 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Results by state
Chamber of Deputies
← 2009 2015 →
outgoing members elected members
All 500 seats in theChamber of Deputies 251 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– Commitment to Mexico (241 seats) PRI Pedro Joaquín Coldwell 33.57 207 −30 PVEM Carlos Alberto Puente Salas 6.42 34 +13 Progressive Movement (135 seats) PRD Jesús Zambrano Grijalva 19.34 100 +29 PT Alberto Anaya 4.83 19 +6 MC Luis Walton Aburto [es] 4.21 16 +10 Other (124 seats) PAN Gustavo Madero Muñoz 27.26 114 −29 PNA Luis Castro Obregón [es] 4.29 10 +1 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Results by constituency

Politics of Mexico
Federal government Constitution of Mexico History of constitutions Human rights LGBT rights Democracy Law Abortion Labor Nationality Capital punishment Life imprisonment Gun politics
Executive President of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum (MORENA) List of heads of state Federal government Cabinet
Legislature Congress of the Union LXVI Legislature of the Mexican Congress Senate of the Republic President of the Senate Laura Itzel Castillo (MORENA) Chamber of Deputies President of the Chamber Kenia López Rabadán (PAN) Federal electoral districts
Judiciary Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary
Elections Instituto Nacional Electoral Federal elections Presidential 2024 2018 2012 Congressional 2024 2021 2018 Judicial 2025 Local elections 2025 2024 2023
Political parties National Action Institutional Revolutionary Ecologist Green Labor Party Citizens' Movement National Regeneration Movement
Administrative divisions States Governors Congresses Municipalities Cities Settlement classification Mexico City Head Congress Boroughs Neighborhoods
Foreign relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minister:Juan Ramón de la Fuente) Diplomatic missions of Mexico /in Mexico Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy
Mexico portal Other countries
v t e

General elections were held inMexico on Sunday, 1 July 2012. Voters went to the polls to elect a newPresident of the Republic to serve a six-year term, replacingFelipe Calderón, 500 members of theChamber of Deputies and 128 members of theMexican Senate.

Several local ballots were held on the same day, including the election of a newHead of Government and newLegislative Assembly of theFederal District, gubernatorial elections in sixstates (Chiapas,Guanajuato,Jalisco,Morelos,Tabasco andYucatán) and municipal and local congressional elections several states.

In December 2009, president Felipe Calderón attempted to pass a bill aimed at reducing the number of legislators in both chambers and another mechanism for the presidential election, which did not pass. If approved, the following reforms would have been implemented:

• Second round voting in case no presidential candidate receives an absolute majority of the votes.^[1][2]
• 96 Senators of the Republic, 3 for each state, elected by plurality for a period of six years, renewable once.
• 400 Federal Deputies (240 by first-past-the-post and 160 by proportional representation) elected for a period of three years with possibility of reelection.

However, the bill did not pass and the number of seats in Congress and the electoral system remained unchanged. The 500 members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected by two methods; 300 are elected by first-past-the post voting in single-member districts, and 200 are elected by proportional representation in five 40-seat constituencies.^[3]

The following are individuals who have either formally announced that they are running for president in 2012, or have formed anexploratory committee for a possible presidential run in 2012.

Nominee:

• Josefina Vázquez Mota,Representative fromMexico City^[4][5]

Other pre-candidates:

• Ernesto Cordero, formerSecretary of Finance and Public Credit fromMexico City^[6][7]
• Santiago Creel,Senator fromMexico City^[8][9]

• Javier Lozano Alarcón,Secretary of Labor fromPuebla (withdrew 21 July 2011)^[10][11]
• Alonso Lujambio,Secretary of Public Education fromMexico City (withdrew 29 August 2011)^[12][13]
• Emilio González Márquez,Governor of Jalisco (withdrew 22 September 2011)^[14][15]

On 5 February, Josefina Vázquez Mota was announced as PAN presidential candidate following her victory in the internal selection process.^[16] Vázquez Mota defeatedErnesto Cordero, who was considered to be favored by PresidentFelipe Calderón, by an approximately 55% to 38% margin.

As coordinator of the PAN's parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies, Vázquez Mota's support among fellow deputies was partially credited for her victory.^[17] Her victory made her the first woman nominated for president by a major party in Mexico.^[18]

Nominee:

• Andrés Manuel López Obrador, formerHead of Government of the Federal District fromTabasco.^[20][21]

Pre-candidates:

• Marcelo Ebrard,Head of Government of the Federal District (withdrew 15 November 2011)^[22][23]

Other pre-candidates:

Nominee:

• Enrique Peña Nieto, formerGovernor of the State of Mexico^[26][27]

Pre-candidates:

• Manlio Fabio Beltrones, formerGovernor of Sonora (withdrew 21 November 2011)^[28][29]

Nominee:

• Gabriel Quadri de la Torre

Mass protests have taken place in Mexico City against alleged bias towards PRI and Peña Nieto in the print and television media, particularlyTelevisa.^[58]

The movementYo Soy 132 ("I am 132") formed in response to this perceived bias, with initial focus on Peña Nieto as the flagship of "corruption, tyranny and authoritarianism".^[59] On 11 May 2012, Peña Nieto visitedUniversidad Iberoamericana and was received with scorn.^[60] Both printed and televised media reported this as a minor mishap, called the students intolerant, and claimed that they had been paid by leftist organizations. In response, 131 students identified themselves on aYouTube video by their university IDs and stated that their actions were independent. This caused a ripple effect as manytweeted "I'm the 132nd student" in solidarity. Mass protests organized by public and private university students then took place across the country. The movement successfully demanded that, unlike the first debate, the second presidential debate be broadcast on national television, and has proposed a third debate to cover a broader scope of issues.^[61][62]

In a 31 March 2016 article published byBloomberg Business Week, a Colombianhacker named Andrés Sepúlveda claimed to have been paid US$600,000 by the PRI for hacking files (including phone calls, e-mails, and strategies) pertaining to the respective political campaigns of Peña Nieto's rivals, and also to manipulate social media to create fake news against his opponents with 30,000 fake Twitter accounts, creating fake trending topics and the perception of public enthusiasm toward Peña Nieto's campaign. On election day, Sepúlveda claimed to have been watching alive feed from Bogotá, Colombia and destroyed evidence right after Peña Nieto was declared winner. He said he was helped by a team of six hackers, which he led. The hacker is serving a 10-year prison sentence in Colombia for hacking crime, in favor of the election campaign ofÓscar Iván Zuluaga.^[63]

Party		Party-list			Constituency			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Institutional Revolutionary Party	15,673,351	33.00	11	15,600,165	32.94	41	52	+19
	National Action Party	13,237,212	27.87	9	13,120,533	27.71	29	38	–14
	Party of the Democratic Revolution	9,351,005	19.69	6	9,265,578	19.57	16	22	–4
	Ecologist Green Party of Mexico	2,880,080	6.06	2	2,869,843	6.06	7	9	+3
	Labor Party	2,336,826	4.92	2	2,325,913	4.91	2	4	0
	Citizens' Movement	2,024,528	4.26	1	2,013,180	4.25	1	2	–4
	New Alliance Party	1,854,678	3.91	1	2,031,486	4.29	0	1	0
	Non-registered candidates	131,067	0.28	0	130,612	0.28	0	0	0
Total		47,488,747	100.00	32	47,357,310	100.00	96	128	0
Valid votes		47,488,747	94.44		47,357,310	94.50
Invalid/blank votes		2,797,881	5.56		2,755,674	5.50
Total votes		50,286,628	100.00		50,112,984	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		79,433,171	63.31		79,433,171	63.09
Source:Election Resources

Party		Party-list			Constituency			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Institutional Revolutionary Party	15,960,086	33.57	49	15,892,978	33.63	158	207	–30
	National Action Party	12,960,875	27.26	62	12,885,414	27.27	52	114	–29
	Party of the Democratic Revolution	9,194,637	19.34	44	9,135,149	19.33	56	100	+29
	Ecologist Green Party of Mexico	3,054,718	6.42	15	3,045,385	6.44	19	34	+13
	Labor Party	2,294,459	4.83	11	2,286,892	4.84	8	19	+6
	New Alliance Party	2,041,608	4.29	10	1,977,185	4.18	0	10	+1
	Citizens' Movement	2,000,524	4.21	9	1,992,102	4.22	7	16	+10
	Non-registered candidates	41,556	0.09	0	41,120	0.09	0	0	0
Total		47,548,463	100.00	200	47,256,225	100.00	300	500	0
Valid votes		47,548,463	95.02		47,256,225	95.04
Invalid/blank votes		2,494,400	4.98		2,465,407	4.96
Total votes		50,042,863	100.00		49,721,632	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		79,433,171	63.00		79,433,171	62.60
Source:Election Resources

Following the elections, López Obrador demanded a full recount, claiming there had been widespread irregularities.^[64] The Federal Electoral Institute subsequently announced that there would be a partial recount, with presidential ballots from 78,012 of the 143,132 polling stations to be recounted, whilst ballots for the Congressional elections would be re-examined at two-thirds of polling stations.^[64] On 6 July after a partial recount of approximately 50% of the votes, theFederal Electoral Institute declared they had found anomalies but that Nieto still had majority and was confirmed as the winner with 38.2% of the popular vote.^[65] which officially has until 6 September to announce a winner.^[64]

On 12 July, López Obrador presented his formal complaint to invalidate the election to theElectoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary (TEPJF) on grounds of violation of constitutional article 41 which states that the elections must be free and authentic and with equal benefits for all competing parties.^[66] Alleging that the Mexican media had treated them with inequality in relation to Peña Nieto and presenting the numerous evidence of paraphernalia used to buy votes for the PRI as well as pre-marked ballots and notarized witness statements of people who sold their votes to the PRI.^[67] The complaint also pointed towards the PRI's campaign going over budget an alleged 1000% over the established allowed budget by the Federal Electoral Institute which is of 336 million Mexican pesos.^[68] On July 18 López Obrador accused Peña Nieto of using illicit funds and money laundering to finance his campaign.^[69] After presenting new audio evidence regarding the PRI's use of Monex cards, López Obrador commented that it would be better if the Electoral Tribunal invalidated the election and move in aninterim President than to violate the constitution and acting in an "anti-democratic" way. He said that if the Electoral Tribunal does not invalidate the election, Mexico will be governed by a "gang of evildoers".^[70]

On 30 August 2012, the TEPJF, Mexico's highest election-law court rejected the allegations of fraud after they concluded that there was "insufficient evidence of wrongdoing."^[71]

After the preliminary results of theFederal Electoral Institute announced Enrique Peña Nieto as virtualPresident-elect, several student protests led by the youth movementYo Soy 132 and independent citizen movements broke out throughout the country claiming the forced imposition of a President andelectoral fraud,^{[72][73][74][75]} as evidence of an allegedfraud surfaced and pointed towards the PRI buying votes by providing voting citizens with storecredit cards of Mexican supermarket chainSoriana.^[76][77] Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) confirmed in January 2013 that Peña Nieto's party spent $5.2 million in electronic cards throughout the whole campaign. Opposition parties complained that this represented a form of illicit funding, but the IFE claimed the contrary. The PRI party claimed that the electronic cards were intended for party personnel, but this method rose suspicions because some of the money was transacted through "several shadowy companies instead of being disbursed directly from party coffers."^[78] This also increased the suspicions that the PRI had received illegal donations from corporations (given that this move is prohibited under law). The IFE stated on 24 January 2013 and ruled by 5–4 votes that the fundings were not violating the law, but opposition parties and critics believe that the IFE did not thoroughly investigate the origins of the money.^[78]

Further alleged evidence arose as pictures of ballots already marked in favor of the PRI, with the logo of the party printed over the marking, have been shared widely over online social networks,^[79] and there have also been numerous videos and photos of that show the irregularities between local ballot boxes and the official result of those ballot boxes.^[80] More allegations appeared as videos showing protection of local police patrols protecting supposed "Mapaches". Following a request from Andrés Manuel López Obrador, theFederal Electoral Institute agreed to recount more than half of the ballots cast in the presidential election. It later reconfirmed the original result.^[81] The result was endorsed byBarack Obama, thepresident of the United States, and by theVenezuelan presidentHugo Chávez, who backed López Obrador in a similar dispute in 2006.^[81]

On 7 July, a national protest in opposition of Enrique Peña Nieto was organized through online social networks, and demonstrations occurred in several cities. The protest inMexico City was billed as a "mega-march", but the number of demonstrators equalled only around half the number which attended anti-PRI demonstrations held prior to the election.^[81] Statements from theYo Soy 132 student movement formally uninvolved themselves from the protest cautioning against violent results; alleging that it may have been organized by a similarly named movement linked to thePRI.^[82] Despite the statement the protests effectively took place in 37 cities inMexico,Canada, theUnited States, andEurope^[83] with no incidents of violence or known involvement of the PRI. Though inXalapa, Veracruz a man identified as Juan Pablo Frianzoni, presumed member of the youth PRI group "Juventud Dinamica"; threw chairs at the protesters and then pointed a handgun at them from his balcony. Frianzoni was then apprehended by Police officers who were standing by the protest.^[84]Televisa did not broadcast the National protests, and instead presented a live broadcast ofEugenio Derbez andAlessandra Rosaldo's wedding which was interrupted due to "technical difficulties" when loud protest chants became audible outside of the event.^[85] Derbez however stated that he was in support of the protests, and though he regrets them happening on the day of his wedding; he said he will cherish the memory.^[86]

As of 15 July^[87] protests and further acts of civil resistance against Peña Nieto and Televisa continue around the country.^[88] On 27 July protesters set up a 24-hour blockade around the mainTelevisa studios inChapultepec,Mexico City.^[89]On August 30 several protesters gathered outside the offices of theElectoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary as the Magistrates declared that the claims made by the left-wing coalition were "unfounded" and were therefore rejected.^[90]

On 1 December 2012, as Peña Nieto was being sworn in as President, protesters rioted outside of the national palace and clashed withFederal Police forces, in an event that has been labeled by the media as the1DMX,^{[91][92][93][94]} while vandalizing hotel structures and setting fires around Mexico City. More than 90 protesters were arrested and several were injured. Mexico City MayorMarcelo Ebrard blamed anarchist groups for causing the violent outcomes.^[95]

• 
  Anti-Imposition Protest inMexico City.
• 
  Anti-Imposition Protest inTijuana, Baja California.

• Jorge I. Dominguez et al. eds.Mexico's Evolving Democracy: A Comparative Study of the 2012 Elections (Johns Hopkins University Press; 2015) 304 pages

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMexican general election, 2012.

• Federal Electoral InstituteArchived 2013-09-14 at theWayback Machine

• 2012 elections in Mexico
• Legislative elections in Mexico
• Presidential elections in Mexico
• July 2012 in Mexico

• Webarchive template wayback links
• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• CS1 Mexican Spanish-language sources (es-mx)
• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from June 2021
• CS1: unfit URL
• Articles with dead external links from August 2017
• Articles with dead external links from January 2018
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from June 2023
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from August 2023
• Pages using embedded infobox templates with the title parameter
• Commons category link from Wikidata