1901 Mexican general election

The **1901 Mexican general election** was held on Sunday February 10, 1901 to elect members of the 14th Congress of Mexico, and was the fourth Mexican election to be held under the 1881 constitution, the first Mexican election of the 20th century, and the last congressional election to take place before the 1904 congressional reforms. It was also the first election since 1864 that was won by a party other than the Restoration Party.

In the aftermath of the First Mexican Revolution in 1869-70, the Restoration Party became the dominant Mexican political party, remaining in office during the transition from the Republic of Mexico into the Second Mexican Empire in 1881, and continuing to dominate during the early years of the new empire. However, after a series of corruption scandals and a major economic downturn caused by government policy, the Restoration Party became increasingly unpopular and was forced to form a three-way coalition government with the Mexican Radical Party and the Progressive Party between 1893 and 1898. Thanks to the expansion of the franchise through the coalition's National Elections Act 1894, the Restoration Party once again failed to form a majority government in the 1898 general election and instead formed a minority government propped up by the Mexican Radical Party. In November 1900, Mexican Radical Party leader Benito Juárez was ousted by Bernardo Reyes, who withdrew the party's support for prime minister Ignacio Mariscal, prompting the collapse of the government in December 1900. Subsequently, prime minister Ignacio Mariscal requested the dissolution of the 13th Congress of Mexico in preparation for a snap general election, and on January 9, 1901, Emperor Pedro II dissolved congress in preparation for an election on February 10, 1901.

During the election on February 10, 1901 all three hundred and twenty seats in the Congress of Mexico were up for election through the first-past-the-post electoral system, meaning that the candidate with the highest number of votes in each constituency would be duly elected as the congressman for the region. Whilst elections were held simultaneously across the country, each individual Mexican state was responsible for drawing the constituency boundaries inside its territory, with each state being constitutionally limited to a maximum of ten constituencies.

The electoral campaign was dominated by the three major parties, as well as the State's Committee; the Restoration Party of Ignacio Mariscal campaigned on the promise of completing the restoration of the Mexican economy and continuing existing policies of tax cuts, armed forces expansions, and successful international trade deals, as well as claiming that changing governments would destabilise the economy. The Mexican Radical Party ran on a platform of major electoral reform, with party leader Bernardo Reyes pledging to expand the congress and increase the electorate, whilst also arguing for economic regulation to dissolve monopolies created under the Mariscal administration. The Progressive Party campaigned on its record in government and sought to further widen the electorate, boost scrutiny of politician's campaign donations, and introduce measures to make amending the constitution easier. The States' Committee sought to repeal the 1881 constitution of Mexico and turn the empire into a confederation of states under personal union with Pedro II of Mexico as the shared head of state.

On February 20, 1901, the results of the election were published in the Imperial Gazette in Mexico City. The Mexican Radical Party won 125 out of the 320 seats, making it the largest party in congress for the first time, whilst the Restoration Party declined to won 121 seats. The Progressive Party won 38, the States' Committee won 28, and independent congressmen won 8 seats. The newly elected 14th Congress of Mexico met for the first time on March 1, 1901 and would remain in session until August 1907. Due to the Mexican Radical Party's lack of an absolute majority in the newly elected congress, party leader Bernardo Reyes formed a coalition with the Progressive Party, which was under the new leadership of Manuel González, and the new government took office on March 3, 1901 after Reyes was appointed as prime minister by Emperor Pedro II.

Under the new coalition government, prime minister Bernardo Reyes implemented a series of reforms to the electoral system, with the number of congressmen increasing from 320 to 480 for the 1907 general election and universal male suffrage being implemented. Similar reforms took place to the economy, with the new government expanding the remits of the Secretariat of the Treasury and the Secretariat of the Interior to allow the departments to advocate for workers rights, whilst the Secretariat of Justice was tasked with breaking up monopolies. The increasing age of both Emperor Pedro II and Crown Prince Juan led the government to pass the Succession to the Crown Act of 1906, which legislated for the formation of a regency council to govern the country as a collective head of state in the instances of a vacancy in the throne without an eligible heir or the ascension of a monarch under the age of 21. In June 1907, the 14th Congress of Mexico was dissolved in preparation for scheduled elections.