2012 Mexican general election

In December 2009, president Felipe Calderón sent a bill to Congress aimed at reducing the number of legislators in both chambers and another mechanism for the presidential election which have not yet been passed. If approved, the following reforms will be implemented:

• Second round voting in case no presidential candidate receives an absolute majority of the votes.[1][2]
• 96 Senators of the Republic, 3 for each state, elected by plurality for a period of six years, renewable once.
• 400 Federal Deputies (240 by first-past-the-post and 160 by proportional representation) elected for a period of three years with possibility of reelection.

The following are individuals who have either formally announced that they are running for president in 2012, or have formed an exploratory committee for a possible presidential run in 2012.

Mass protests have taken place in Mexico City against alleged bias towards PRI and Peña Nieto in the print and television media, particularly Televisa.[54]

The movement Yo Soy 132 ("I am 132") formed in response to this perceived bias, with initial focus on Peña Nieto as the flagship of "corruption, tyranny and authoritarianism".[55] On May 11, 2012, Peña Nieto visited Universidad Iberoamericana and was received with scorn.[56] Both printed and televised media reported this as a minor mishap, called the students intolerant, and claimed that they had been paid by leftist organizations. In response, 131 students identified themselves on a YouTube video by their university IDs and stated that their actions were independent. This caused a ripple effect as many tweeted "I'm the 132nd student" in solidarity. Mass protests organized by public and private university students then took place across the country. The movement successfully demanded that, unlike the first debate, the second presidential debate be broadcast on national television, and has proposed a third debate to cover a broader scope of issues.[57][58]

In a 31 March 2016 article published by Bloomberg Business Week, a Colombian hacker named Andrés Sepúlveda claimed to have been paid US$600,000 by the PRI for hacking files (including phone calls, e-mails, and strategies) pertaining to the respective political campaigns of Peña Nieto's rivals, and also to manipulate social media to create fake news against his opponents with 30,000 fake Twitter accounts, creating fake trending topics and the perception of public enthusiasm toward Peña Nieto's campaign. On election day, Sepúlveda claimed to have been watching a live feed from Bogota, Colombia and destroyed evidence right after Peña Nieto was declared winner. He said he was helped by a team of six hackers, which he led. The hacker is serving a 10-year prison sentence in Colombia for hacking crime, in favor of the election campaign of Óscar Iván Zuluaga.[59]

After the preliminary results of the Federal Electoral Institute announced Enrique Peña Nieto as virtual President-elect, several student protests led by the youth movement Yo Soy 132 and independent citizen movements, have broken out throughout the country claiming the forced imposition of a President and electoral fraud,[69][70][71][72][73][74] as evidence of an alleged fraud has surfaced and pointed towards the PRI buying votes by providing voting citizens with store credit cards of Mexican supermarket chain Soriana.[75][76] Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) confirmed in January 2013 that Peña Nieto's party spent $5.2 million in electronic cards throughout the whole campaign. Opposition parties complained that this represented a form of illicit funding, but the IFE claimed the contrary. The PRI party claimed that the electronic cards were intended for party personnel, but this method rose suspicions because some of the money was transacted through "several shadowy companies instead of being disbursed directly from party coffers."[77] This also increased the suspicions that the PRI had received illegal donations from corporations (given that this move is prohibited under law). The IFE stated on 24 January 2013 and ruled by 5–4 votes that the fundings were not violating the law, but opposition parties and critics believe that the IFE did not thoroughly investigate the origins of the money.[77]

Further alleged evidence arose as pictures of ballots already marked in favor of the PRI, with the logo of the party printed over the marking, have been shared widely over online social networks,[78] and there have also been numerous videos and photos of that show the irregularities between local ballot boxes and the official result of those ballot boxes.[79] More allegations appeared as videos showing protection of local police patrols protecting supposed "Mapaches". Following a request from Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Federal Electoral Institute agreed to recount more than half of the ballots cast in the presidential election. It later reconfirmed the original result.[80] The result was endorsed by Barack Obama, the president of the United States, and by the Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, who backed López Obrador in a similar dispute in 2006.[80]

On July 7, a national protest in opposition of Enrique Peña Nieto was organized through online social networks, and demonstrations occurred in several cities. The protest in Mexico City was billed as a "mega-march", but the number of demonstrators equalled only around half the number which attended anti-PRI demonstrations held prior to the election.[80] Statements from the Yo Soy 132 student movement formally uninvolved themselves from the protest cautioning against violent results; alleging that it may have been organized by a similarly named movement linked to the PRI.[81] Despite the statement the protests effectively took place in 37 cities in Mexico, Canada, The United States, and Europe[82] with no incidents of violence or known involvement of the PRI. Though in Xalapa, Veracruz a man identified as Juan Pablo Frianzoni, presumed member of the youth PRI group "Juventud Dinamica"; threw chairs at the protesters and then pointed a handgun at them from his balcony. Frianzoni was then apprehended by Police officers who were standing by the protest.[83] Televisa did not broadcast the National protests, and instead presented a live broadcast of Eugenio Derbez and Alessandra Rosaldo's wedding which was interrupted due to "technical difficulties" when loud protest chants became audible outside of the event.[84] Derbez however stated that he was in support of the protests, and though he regrets them happening on the day of his wedding; he said he will cherish the memory.[85]

As of July 15[86] protests and further acts of civil resistance against Peña Nieto and Televisa continue around the country.[87] On July 27 protesters set up a 24-hour blockade around the main Televisa studios in Chapultepec, Mexico City.[88] On August 30 several protesters gathered outside the offices of the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary as the Magistrates declared that the claims made by the left-wing coalition were "unfounded" and were therefore rejected.[89]

On December 1, 2012, as Peña Nieto was being sworn in as President, protesters rioted outside of the national palace and clashed with Federal Police forces, in an event that has been labeled by the media as the 1DMX,[90][91][92][93] while vandalizing hotel structures and setting fires around Mexico City. More than 90 protesters were arrested and several were injured. Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard blamed anarchist groups for causing the violent outcomes.[94]

• 
  Anti-Imposition Protest in Mexico City.
• 
  Anti-Imposition Protest in Tijuana, Baja California.

• Jorge I. Dominguez et al. eds. Mexico's Evolving Democracy: A Comparative Study of the 2012 Elections (Johns Hopkins University Press; 2015) 304 pages

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mexican general election, 2012.

• Federal Electoral Institute