Party of the Democratic Revolution
Encyclopedia
The Party of the Democratic Revolution is a democratic socialist party in Mexico and one of 2 Mexican affiliates of the Socialist International
. The PRD is a member of the Broad Progressive Front
alliance.
on May 5, 1989 by Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas
, Heberto Castillo
, Marco Rascon Cordova, Gilberto Rincón Gallardo
, Porfirio Muñoz Ledo
, other prominent PRI members and left-wing politicians. The party was originally founded by including many smaller left-wing parties such as the Partido Comunista Mexicano
(PCM, Mexican Communist Party), Partido Socialista Unificado de México (PSUM, Unified Socialist Party of Mexico), Partido Mexicano Socialista (PMS, Socialist Mexican Party) and Partido Mexicano de los Trabajadores (PMT, Mexican Workers' Party). The PMS donated its registration with the Federal Electoral Commission (CFE) to enable the new party to be established.
It was proclaimed to be the party of the 6 de julio (July 6), referring to the date of the 1988 presidential election
where it is alleged that Cárdenas, the candidate of a coalition of center-left parties called National Democratic Front
(Frente Democrático Nacional) won the election but was denied victory by fraudulent means. Victory was instead handed to PRI candidate, Carlos Salinas
.
The party only has electoral presence in central and Southern Mexico, whereas in the North its voting averages is only 5%. It has won gubernatorial races in some states including Baja California Sur
, Chiapas
, Guerrero
and Michoacán
. although, most of them have been obtained with former members of the PRI). It has also maintained control over the Federal District (Mexico City) since 1997, with 3 former members of the PRI. In the 2003 local elections, 13 of the Federal District's 16 boroughs (delegaciones) were won by PRD candidates; in the 2006 election
, that figure rose to 14.
In the 2000 presidential election
the Alianza por México
(the "Alliance for Mexico", comprising the PRD and four smaller parties) candidate Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas
won 16.6% of the popular vote and 15 seats in the Senate
. Three years later in the 2003 legislative elections
the party won 17.6% of the popular vote and 95 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
.
In the 2006 legislative elections the party won 127 out of 500 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
and 26 out of 128 Senators
.
(Video Scandals) a series of videos where notable party members were taped receiving cash funds or betting large sums of money in a Las Vegas
casino
. Party members who were seen on the video tapes were expelled from the party, but those who were supposedly associated are still active members.
Later, another video was recorded by Cuba's government where Carlos Ahumada
states that members of the PRI and PAN
were planning the situation presented in the first video as part of a plot against Andrés Manuel López Obrador
to get him away as possible presidential candidate.
, Andrés Manuel López Obrador
, was the presidential candidate for the "Coalición por el Bien de Todos"
(Coalition for the Good of All) in the 2006 presidential elections
. After the general election of July 2, 2006, and a recount of the 9.09% of the ballot tally sheets which supposedly presented irregularities, the Federal Electoral Institute recorded the vote results in favor of Felipe Calderón by a margin of 0.58 percent. These results were later validated by the Federal Electoral Tribunal. However, PRD claims that there was election fraud. The claims of election fraud have been rejected by the Federal Electoral Tribunal
(TEPJF), which considered these "evidently inadmissible" ("notoriamente improcedente") and certified PAN
's candidate Felipe Calderón
as the winner.
The PRD had called for demonstrations and set up camps in the capital's main square blocking one of its main avenues (Paseo de la Reforma) for six weeks to demand for a recount of all votes which was not granted. The camps were later dismantled after confrontation with the Mexican Army was likely and Obrador was declared "Legitimate President" by his followers in a "public open vote" (people in the main square raising their hands). Obrador does not recognize the legitimacy of Calderón.
In 2008 after bitter infighting within the party Jesús Ortega
, an opponent of Andrés Manuel López Obrador
, was elected party president. In the 2009 legislative elections, López Obrador supported two smaller parties while mainatining his ties to PRD.
Socialist International
The Socialist International is a worldwide organization of democratic socialist, social democratic and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
. The PRD is a member of the Broad Progressive Front
Broad Progressive Front
The Broad Progressive Front is a legislative, electoral and governmental coalition of center-left and leftist political parties in México. The FAP was founded after the 2006 Mexican general election following the final agreements that the extinct Coalition for the Good of All took.The FAP is...
alliance.
History
Founded in Mexico CityMexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
on May 5, 1989 by Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano is a prominent Mexican politician. He was a former Head of Government of the Federal District and a founder of the Party of the Democratic Revolution .-Biography:...
, Heberto Castillo
Heberto Castillo
Heberto Castillo Martínez was a Mexican civil engineer and political activist.Castillo was born in Ixhuatlán de Madero, Veracruz, and received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the National Autonomous University...
, Marco Rascon Cordova, Gilberto Rincón Gallardo
Gilberto Rincón Gallardo
Gilberto Rincón Gallardo y Meltis was a Mexican politician, activist and former presidential candidate.-Biography:...
, Porfirio Muñoz Ledo
Porfirio Muñoz Ledo
Porfirio Alejandro Muñoz Ledo y Lazo de la Vega is a Mexican politician. He is one of the founders of the Party of the Democratic Revolution ....
, other prominent PRI members and left-wing politicians. The party was originally founded by including many smaller left-wing parties such as the Partido Comunista Mexicano
Mexican Communist Party
The Mexican Communist Party was a communist party in Mexico. It was founded in 1911 as the Socialist Workers' Party by Manabendra Nath Roy, a left-wing Indian intellectual. The PSO changed its name to the Mexican Communist Party in November 1919 following the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia...
(PCM, Mexican Communist Party), Partido Socialista Unificado de México (PSUM, Unified Socialist Party of Mexico), Partido Mexicano Socialista (PMS, Socialist Mexican Party) and Partido Mexicano de los Trabajadores (PMT, Mexican Workers' Party). The PMS donated its registration with the Federal Electoral Commission (CFE) to enable the new party to be established.
It was proclaimed to be the party of the 6 de julio (July 6), referring to the date of the 1988 presidential election
Mexican general election, 1988
General elections were held in Mexico on July 6, 1988. The presidential elections were won by Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who received 50.7% of the vote, the lowest for a winning candidate since direct elections were introduced for the presidency in 1917...
where it is alleged that Cárdenas, the candidate of a coalition of center-left parties called National Democratic Front
National Democratic Front (Mexico)
The National Democratic Front was a coalition of left-wing Mexican political parties created in 1988 presidential elections, and that is the immediate antecedent of the Party of the Democratic Revolution. It was result of an agglutination of small political left and center-left forces with a...
(Frente Democrático Nacional) won the election but was denied victory by fraudulent means. Victory was instead handed to PRI candidate, Carlos Salinas
Carlos Salinas
Carlos Salinas de Gortari is a Mexican economist and politician affiliated to the Institutional Revolutionary Party who served as President of Mexico from 1988 to 1994. Earlier in his career he worked in the Budget Secretariat all the way up to Secretary...
.
Electoral presence
Baja California Sur
Baja California Sur , is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state on October 8, 1974, the area was known as the South Territory of Baja California. It has an area of , or 3.57% of the land mass of Mexico and comprises...
, Chiapas
Chiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
, Guerrero
Guerrero
Guerrero officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guerrero is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo....
and Michoacán
Michoacán
Michoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia...
. although, most of them have been obtained with former members of the PRI). It has also maintained control over the Federal District (Mexico City) since 1997, with 3 former members of the PRI. In the 2003 local elections, 13 of the Federal District's 16 boroughs (delegaciones) were won by PRD candidates; in the 2006 election
2006 Mexican Federal District election
Elections in the Mexican Federal District were held on Sunday, 2 July 2006. Voters went the polls to elect, on the local level:*A new Head of Government of the Federal District, to serve a six-year term, replacing current incumbent Alejandro Encinas....
, that figure rose to 14.
In the 2000 presidential election
Mexican general election, 2000
General elections were held in Mexico on 6 July 2000. The presidential elections were won by Vicente Fox of the Alliance for Change, who received 43.4% of the vote, the first time the opposition had won an election since the Mexican Revolution...
the Alianza por México
Alliance for Mexico
The Alliance for Mexico is the name of two different multi-party electoral alliances in Mexico; one from 2000 and the other from 2006.-2000 elections:...
(the "Alliance for Mexico", comprising the PRD and four smaller parties) candidate Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano is a prominent Mexican politician. He was a former Head of Government of the Federal District and a founder of the Party of the Democratic Revolution .-Biography:...
won 16.6% of the popular vote and 15 seats in the Senate
Senate of Mexico
The Senate of the Republic, constitutionally Chamber of Senators of the Honorable Congress of the Union After a series of reforms during the 1990s, it is now made up of 128 senators:...
. Three years later in the 2003 legislative elections
2003 Mexican elections
A number of elections, both federal and local, took place in Mexico during 2003:-Federal Congress:**Chamber of Deputies – 500 federal deputies-Colima:**Governor, state congress, and mayors**See: 2003 Colima state election-Nuevo León:...
the party won 17.6% of the popular vote and 95 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Mexico
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Congress of the Union, Mexico's bicameral legislature. The structure and responsibilities of both chambers of Congress are defined in Articles 50 to 70 of the current constitution.-Composition:The Chamber of Deputies is composed of one federal...
.
In the 2006 legislative elections the party won 127 out of 500 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Mexico
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Congress of the Union, Mexico's bicameral legislature. The structure and responsibilities of both chambers of Congress are defined in Articles 50 to 70 of the current constitution.-Composition:The Chamber of Deputies is composed of one federal...
and 26 out of 128 Senators
Senate of Mexico
The Senate of the Republic, constitutionally Chamber of Senators of the Honorable Congress of the Union After a series of reforms during the 1990s, it is now made up of 128 senators:...
.
Video Scandals
The party had enjoyed a reputation of honesty unmatched by its competitors, until the "Video Escándalos"Videoscandals
The Videoscandals were political scandals in Mexico in 2004 when videos of prominent politicians taken with hidden cameras were made public...
(Video Scandals) a series of videos where notable party members were taped receiving cash funds or betting large sums of money in a Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
. Party members who were seen on the video tapes were expelled from the party, but those who were supposedly associated are still active members.
Later, another video was recorded by Cuba's government where Carlos Ahumada
Carlos Ahumada
Carlos Agustín Ahumada Kurtz is a naturalized Mexican businessman owner of Grupo Quart, a newspaper and former owner of two football clubs in Mexico who was convicted for corruption-related crimes in Mexico City in 2004.Ahumada Kurtz moved to Mexico at the age of 11 on October 6, 1975 with his...
states that members of the PRI and PAN
National Action Party (Mexico)
The National Action Party , is one of the three main political parties in Mexico. The party's political platform is generally considered Centre-Right in the Mexican political spectrum. Since 2000, the President of Mexico has been a member of this party; both houses have PAN pluralities, but the...
were planning the situation presented in the first video as part of a plot against Andrés Manuel López Obrador
Andrés Manuel López Obrador
Andrés Manuel López Obrador , also known as AMLO or El Peje, is a Mexican politician who held the position of Head of Government of the Federal District from 2000 to 2005, before resigning in July 2005 to contend the 2006 presidential election, representing the unsuccessful Coalition for the Good...
to get him away as possible presidential candidate.
Recent history
The former mayor of Mexico CityHead of Government of the Federal District
The Head of Government wields executive power in the Mexican Federal District.The Head of Government serves a six-year term, running concurrently with that of the President of the Republic....
, Andrés Manuel López Obrador
Andrés Manuel López Obrador
Andrés Manuel López Obrador , also known as AMLO or El Peje, is a Mexican politician who held the position of Head of Government of the Federal District from 2000 to 2005, before resigning in July 2005 to contend the 2006 presidential election, representing the unsuccessful Coalition for the Good...
, was the presidential candidate for the "Coalición por el Bien de Todos"
Coalition for the Good of All
The Coalition for the Good of All was a left-wing coalition created by the Party of the Democratic Revolution , Convergence and the Labor Party to support Andrés Manuel López Obrador as a candidate for the presidency of Mexico in the general election of 2006...
(Coalition for the Good of All) in the 2006 presidential elections
Mexican general election, 2006
A general election was held in Mexico on Sunday, July 2, 2006. Voters went to the polls to elect, on the federal level:*A new President of the Republic to serve a six-year term, replacing then Mexican President Vicente Fox .*500 members to serve for a...
. After the general election of July 2, 2006, and a recount of the 9.09% of the ballot tally sheets which supposedly presented irregularities, the Federal Electoral Institute recorded the vote results in favor of Felipe Calderón by a margin of 0.58 percent. These results were later validated by the Federal Electoral Tribunal. However, PRD claims that there was election fraud. The claims of election fraud have been rejected by the Federal Electoral Tribunal
Federal Electoral Tribunal
The Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary is a venue within the judiciary of Mexico that specialises in electoral matters. Among its functions are resolving disputes arising within federal elections and certifying the validity of those elections, including those of the President of the...
(TEPJF), which considered these "evidently inadmissible" ("notoriamente improcedente") and certified PAN
National Action Party (Mexico)
The National Action Party , is one of the three main political parties in Mexico. The party's political platform is generally considered Centre-Right in the Mexican political spectrum. Since 2000, the President of Mexico has been a member of this party; both houses have PAN pluralities, but the...
's candidate Felipe Calderón
Felipe Calderón
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa is the current President of Mexico. He assumed office on December 1, 2006, and was elected for a single six-year term through 2012...
as the winner.
The PRD had called for demonstrations and set up camps in the capital's main square blocking one of its main avenues (Paseo de la Reforma) for six weeks to demand for a recount of all votes which was not granted. The camps were later dismantled after confrontation with the Mexican Army was likely and Obrador was declared "Legitimate President" by his followers in a "public open vote" (people in the main square raising their hands). Obrador does not recognize the legitimacy of Calderón.
In 2008 after bitter infighting within the party Jesús Ortega
Jesús Ortega
Jesús Ortega Martínez is a Mexican left-wing politician affiliated to the Party of the Democratic Revolution who has served in the lower and upper house of the Mexican Congress...
, an opponent of Andrés Manuel López Obrador
Andrés Manuel López Obrador
Andrés Manuel López Obrador , also known as AMLO or El Peje, is a Mexican politician who held the position of Head of Government of the Federal District from 2000 to 2005, before resigning in July 2005 to contend the 2006 presidential election, representing the unsuccessful Coalition for the Good...
, was elected party president. In the 2009 legislative elections, López Obrador supported two smaller parties while mainatining his ties to PRD.