Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume E–11, Part 1, Documents on Mexico; Central America; and the Caribbean, 1973–1976

97. Telegram 8640 From the Embassy in Mexico to the Department of State¹

Mexico City, July 6, 1976, 2233Z.

8640. Subject: PRI Claiming High Voter Turnout for Jose Lopez Portillo. Ref: Mexico 8598.

1. PRI leaders are exuberantly claiming that PRI Presidential candidate Jose Lopez Portillo has defeated the “party of abstentionismo” in elections held here July 4. With approximately 70 percent of ballot boxes in Presidential election counted, JLP is winning 92 percent, the other 8 percent going to “unregistered parties” and annulled ballots, without specifying number received by unregistered candidates Valentin Campa (Mexican Communist Party) and Pablo Emilio Madero (National Action Party, PAN). More importantly, PRI sources project that JLP will receive some 17 million votes, or 65.5 percent of all registered voters (Echeverria received 55 percent in 1970), and that the rate of participation will reach 71 percent of all registered voters (compared to 65 percent in 1970).

2. With the various parties being the only sources of information thus far, the PRI is claiming victories in all 194 and all 64 congressional and senatorial races, respectively. The PARM (Authentic Party of the Revolution) is claiming 9 victories (PRI sources admit that the race in Nuevo Laredo, which PARM won in 1973, is “very close”), the PAN thus far is claiming victory only in Puebla’s sixth district (PAN won four seats outright in 1973, none in 1970), and the PPS (Popular Socialist Party) is not yet claiming any victories except for the senatorial candidacy of PPS President Cruickshank, who received PRI endorsement in Oaxaca.

3. In the federal district, where the PRI and PAN invested most of their resources, partial returns show the PRI getting about 65 percent of the valid ballots cast, the PAN 25 percent, the PPS 5.7 percent and the PARM about 4 percent. Rate of abstention, which will be a more revealing statistic, is not yet available. Number of deliberately annulled ballots likewise has not yet been published.

4. PRI and GOM officials are emphasizing, along with the defeat of “abstentionism,” the lack of violence during election day. Although bombs exploded in PRI and PAN headquarters in Guadalajara on July 5, election day itself apparently was peaceful throughout the nation. Mexican security forces had anticipated some terrorist acts and had taken stringent security precautions.

5. Comment: Since returns thus far are only partial results, because political parties themselves are thus far the only sources of these returns, and thirdly because official results themselves, when available, will be only slightly more reliable than party figures, just what has happened in these elections is difficult to say. A tentative conclusion is that Lopez Portillo has been an attractive candidate and that he has gotten a good response to his appeal for a “mandate” to govern. It would also appear, pending further information, that internal divisions within the PAN have caused it to slip in the federal district, where it did well in 1973 (about 43 percent). If the PARM does win several seats, it may [be] because disaffected elements within the PRI urged voter support for PARM candidates. For example, according to a confidential DAO source, the new leadership of the Telephone Workers’ Union mobilized support against the PRI candidate in Guerrero’s sixth district, Salustio Salcedo Guzman, who lost his leadership of that union in the special referendum held in late April.

Jova

1. Summary: The Embassy summarized early returns from the July 4 Mexican Presidential election, noting that unopposed candidate José López Portillo had a commanding lead.

   Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D760260–0969. Confidential. Pouched to all consulates in Mexico City. All brackets are in the original except “[be]”, added for clarity. Telegram 8598 from Mexico City, July 3, is ibid., D760257–1147. In telegram 8965 from Mexico City, July 13, the Embassy transmitted an updated report on the election results, noting that turnout had apparently been relatively high and that opposition candidates had not fared well in congressional contests. (Ibid., D760270–0747)