1988 Elections in Mexico: Crisis of Authoritarianism

Abstract

The elections of 1988 were considered by almost all political actors and observers from Mexico as the key episode of the political moment facing the country at the end of the century.The federal election of 1988, in more than one sense, a critical choice that can be analyzed from many perspectives. In this article, we will focus this process from two of them: institutional and electoral. First, we analyze the 1988 elections as ainstitutionally regulated process, ie, contained in a framework of laws, regulations and public bodies that set the boundaries of the political strategies of the players available and thus induce certain balances. In particular, we will discuss some important aspects of how the rules of electoral competition policy in force in 1988 contributed both to secure the victory of the PRI, as a result of the crisis of the party system. Furthermore, we discuss some of the highlights of the changes observed in the general patterns of voting behavior. In this regard, we postulate queen the 1988 election, it became clear that the patterns of behavior of the electoratehad been observed for many years were significantly modified, to the extent that one can speak of an electoral realignment. This means that not only witnessed a change among the main variables of electoral behavior (participation and party preference), but above all, a change in the relationship between these aspects of electoral behavior and some of the most important social and regional country.