{{Infobox election | previous_election = 1970 Mexican general election | previous_year = 1970 | next_election = 1982 Mexican general election | next_year = 1982 | election_date = 4 July 1976 | country = Mexico | module = {{Infobox election | embed = yes | election_name = Presidential election | type = presidential | image1 = Jose Lopez Portillo.jpg | nominee1 = José López Portillo | party1 = Institutional Revolutionary Party | popular_vote1 = 16,727,993| percentage1 = 100%'| title = President | before_election = Luis Echeverría | before_party = Institutional Revolutionary Party | after_election = José López Portillo | after_party = Institutional Revolutionary Party }}}} General elections were held in Mexico on 4 July 1976. José López Portillo was the only candidate in the presidential election, and was elected unopposed. In the Chamber of Deputies election, the Institutional Revolutionary Party won 195 of the 237 seats, as well as winning all 64 seats in the Senate election. Voter turnout was 64.6% in the Senate election and 62.0% in the Chamber election. Background Before the electoral reform of 1977, only four political parties were allowed to participate in the elections: the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the Popular Socialist Party (PPS), the Authentic Party of the Mexican Revolution (PARM) and the right-wing National Action Party (PAN), which was practically the only real opposition party at the time. The campaign and the elections took place during a tense period: the economic crisis, the leftist guerrilla uprisings in some parts of the country and the Dirty War the government took against them, were some of many issues that outgoing President Luis Echeverría faced and which jeopardised the power of the ruling PRI. Nomination of the PRI presidential candidate Some of the PRI contenders for the party's 1976 presidential candidacy were: Mario Moya Palencia (Secretary of the Interior). He was initially perceived as the natural candidate to succeed President Luis Echeverría, given that Echeverría and his predecessor Gustavo Díaz Ordaz had been Secretaries of the Interior immediately prior to receiving the presidential nomination. Moya Palencia was also reported to have the support of the Army and most of the State Governors for his candidacy. Porfirio Muñoz Ledo (Secretary of Labor). He was noted for his large government experience at his relatively young age, having had a meteoric rise in the PRI ranks. He was reported to have the support of the Confederation of Mexican Workers