1910 Mexican general election

The **1910 Mexican general election** was held on Sunday January 9, 1910 to elect members of the 16th Congress of Mexico, and was the sixth Mexican election to be held under the 1881 constitution, as well as the second congressional election to take place following the 1904 congressional reforms. It was also the first election in which six political parties won representation in congress and the last to take place during the reign of Emperor Pedro II.

Following the 1901 general election, a two-way coalition government between the Mexican Radical Party and the Progressive Party allowed Bernardo Reyes to form the first non-Restoration party government since 1872. Under the coalition government, prime minister Bernardo Reyes implemented a series of electoral and constitutional reforms, including an increase in the membership of congress. After the 1907 general election, the Progressive Party withdrew from government after a poor electoral performance but continued to support the government externally. Having formed a new minority administration, during his second term prime minister Bernardo Reyes began the implementation of a package of workers rights by attempting to pass the National Workers Contract Bill of 1909 - however, the legislation collapsed in the face of opposition, subsequently causing the government to collapse. On November 19, 1909, Reyes requested a dissolution for new elections - on December 1, 1909, Emperor Pedro II dissolved congress in preparation for an election on January 9, 1910.

During the election on January 9, 1910 all four hundred and eighty 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 fifteen constituencies. Prior to the 28th Amendment to the 1881 Mexican Constitution, states were limited to ten constituencies, resulting in a smaller congress of 320 members. The amendment also introduced a mechanism of introducing boundary reviews once every decade - if the boundary reviews were to conclude that more representation was required, then the Congress of Mexico could be enlarged.

The electoral campaign was mainly contested by six parties. The governing Mexican Radical Party placed the failure to pass the National Workers Contract Bill of 1909 at the centre of their campaign, pledging to pass it within the first week of the new congress if re-elected - the party also pledged to create a Ministry of Labour in a bid to win over working class voters. The Progressive Party campaigned on pledges to back worker's rights, implement basic standards of work, restrict the constitutional power of the monarchy, and strip the emperor of their title as "defender of the faith". The Restoration Party under Francisco León de la Barra campaigned on the promise of shrinking the government, protecting the Catholic Church and the powers of the monarchy, and protecting business interests. The Coahuila Labour Party campaigned for greater regional autonomy for northern industrial states and for the introduction of a socialist economic policy - having previously only actively contested seats in Coahuila, the party further targeted the neighbouring states of Nuevo Leon and Zacatecas, and broadened their calls for autonomy from just Coahuila state to the wider north. The Oaxaca Labour Party campaigned on similar pledges of socialism and autonomy, but specifically sought to achieve autonomy for Oaxaca state. 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 January 20, 1910, the results of the election were published in the Imperial Gazette in Mexico City. The Restoration Party won 241 seats, winning their first congressional majority since 1887, whilst the Mexican Radical Party won 147 seats, the States' Committee won 26, the Coahuila Labour Party won 18, the Oaxaca Labour Party won 17, the Progressive Party won 11, and independent congressmen won 19 seats. The newly elected 16th Congress of Mexico met for the first time on February 2, 1910 and would remain in session until August 1915. Due to the Mexican Radical Party's inability to form a government, prime minister Bernardo Reyes resigned from office and Emperor Pedro II subsequently appointed Francisco León de la Barra as prime minister on February 2, 1910.

Having formed a majority administration, prime minister Francisco León de la Barra launched his "Plan of 1910", which involved the widespread repeal of worker's rights legislation passed by the prior government, the beginning of a constitutional process to allow the government to use imperial crown powers by their own right, and an expansion of the powers of the armed forces. In May 1910, Emperor Pedro II died aged 74 without any direct heirs, resulting in his younger brother Juan I assuming the throne. The sixteenth congress of Mexico was dominated by issues of labour relations, calls for increased autonomy for the states, the rise of regionalist parties, and tensions between Emperor Juan I and prime minister Francisco León de la Barra over the powers of the monarchy. Tensions between the two men would lead to the 1916 constitutional crisis, in which Juan I dismissed León de la Barra as prime minister and installed a loyalist government. The political crises which emerged during the sixteenth congress would go on to cause the Second Mexican Revolution in 1921 and redefine Mexican politics for the next century.