 Upon the death of President Benito Juárez in 1872, vice-president and President of the Supreme Court Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, the President of the Supreme Court, assumed the interim presidency, and called for new elections.The two candidates registered were Lerdo de Tejada and the General Porfirio Díaz, one of the heroes of the Battle of Puebla of 5 May 1862, who had since occupied several public positions.Díaz had challenged Juárez with his Plan de la Noria, in which he stated his opposition to presidential re-election and called for a Constituent Congress.