[3] Prior to the legislative elections, a historic milestone occurred in 1989 when Ernesto Ruffo Appel of the National Action Party (PAN) was elected governor of Baja California in state elections, becoming the first governor not from the PRI in sixty years.

This started a succession of state election victories for the PAN and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).

The Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), an independent public organization tasked with organizing elections for the presidency and Congress, officially came into being on 11 October 1990.

In order to assure absolute legitimacy and reliability for the 1991 elections, an entirely new electoral roll was created without reference to previous rolls.

[4] The election campaign was largely focussed on economic issues, and the elections were characterised by some political commentators as a referendum on the economic reforms of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari.