1887 Mexican general election

The **1887 Mexican general election** was held on Sunday May 15, 1887 to elect members of the 11th Congress of Mexico, and was the first Mexican election to be held under the 1881 constitution, as well as the first elections to take place under the Second Mexican Empire. The election was also one of the last to be held under the 1881 voter requirements, which were abolished after the 1893 general election to allow a larger portion of the population to be able to vote.

Following the 1881 general election and the transition from the Republic of Mexico into the Second Mexican Empire in November 1881, Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada of the Restoration Party was appointed as prime minister by Emperor Pedro II and began to implement a series of domestic and international policies designed to internally strengthen Mexico and restore broken diplomatic ties. However, tensions between Lerdo de Tejada and Pedro II erupted over the matter of governmental independence and the power of the monarchy, with Pedro II arguing that as head of state, he deserved to play a role in government, whilst Lerdo de Tejada was staunchly in favour of a separation of powers and constitutional monarchy. In September 1885, Lerdo de Tejada resigned as prime minister and was replaced by Ignacio Mariscal, who was widely seen as an imperial loyalist. After just five years of the 10th Congress of Mexico being in session, Mariscal requested the dissolution of congress in April 1887 in preparation for a snap general election designed to booster his own authority in government - subsequently on May 1, 1887, Emperor Pedro II dissolved congress in preparation for an election on May 15, 1887.

During the election on May 15, 1887 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. The electoral campaign was dominated by the three major parties; the Restoration Party of Ignacio Mariscal sought to extend its term in office and campaigned on a platform of lowering taxes, increasing the armed forces, and boosting international trade and diplomatic relations. The Mexican Radical Party ran on a platform of shrinking the government, pledging to abolish the newly formed Secretariat of the Interior and its associated cabinet office, as well as reducing taxes and the size of the armed forces, and implementing a citizens charter to prevent government overreach into the lives of civilians. The Progressive Party sought to increase scrutiny of politician's campaign donations, as well as introducing measures to make amending the constitution easier, and giving greater power to the Mexican states.

On May 24, 1887, the results of the election were published in the Imperial Gazette in Mexico City, marking the first time since 1850 that election results had been published in a monarchical gazette. The Restoration Party won 226 out of the 320 seats, giving it a supermajority, whilst the Mexican Radical Party won 75, the Progressive Party won 13, and independent congressmen won 6 seats. The newly elected 11th Congress of Mexico met for the first time on June 14, 1887 and would remain in session until December 1892. During the 11th Congress, Ignacio Mariscal remained as prime minister and implemented most of his election pledges during his second term in office.