Sexenio (Mexico)

[2] It is one of the country's most important political institutions, because it is one of the few significant limitations on the holder of the Executive power in Mexico, which is strong at local, state, and national levels.

The sexenio was a reaction to failed re-election experiences occurring during Mexico's first fifty years as an independent country and, most notably, the Porfiriato era (1876–1911).

Originally known as the "sexenal plan" (Plan Sexenal), the main goal of the sexenio was to provide a clear path to follow for governmental actions during a president's term of office, with the intention to fulfill the unsatisfied social and economic demands—mainly those related to agricultural, industrial and urban development and to the improvement of precarious working conditions—which were major root causes of the 1910 revolution.

[5] On article 1 of the Fourth law of this new Central Constitution, it was established that the Executive branch was to be exercised by a Supreme Magistrate, whom was to be called President of the Republic (Presidente de la República) and who will remain in office for eight years, with article 5 allowing the possibility of their immediate reelection.

[further explanation needed] General Porfirio Díaz seized power in the Plan of Tuxtepec, got the ban on reelection repealed, and ended up winning eight elections, between 1877 and 1904, before he was deposed in 1911.

Former president Álvaro Obregón launched a successful campaign to alter the Constitution to only ban consecutive terms.

Under the original 1917 Constitution, the inauguration of a new president took place on 1 December of the same year as the general federal election, marking the start of a new sexenio.

This situation was evidenced during the first weeks of president Ernesto Zedillo's administration, when his predecessor, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, was accused of manipulating economic data to maintain an image of prosperity and economic stability during the last months of his administration, resulting in a major monetary crisis that had negative impacts throughout Zedillo's presidency.