Helpful whirlwinding tours of ramblings in politic of Mexico part 1

Okay, here goes. We’ll take a look at the top parties, top characters and their influence on Mexico.

The most powerful party in recent history is the PAN (partido de accion nacional, national action party)

They won the presidency with Vicente Fox in 2000 and after his term was up another PAN candidate, Felipe Calderon, won the election in 2006. They also hold more seats in both houses of Congress than any other party.

The PAN blends socialism (a mainstay in Mexican government) with right ring, conservative principals.

For example, under the Fox and Calderon administrations tens of thousands of practical, uniform, low cost housing units have been built in enormous lots all across the country, to give working class Mexican families a chance to own a decent house.

At the same time, the party supports free trade with the US and other countries as well as privatization of land and industries.

The PAN is also religiously conservative having taken action against abortion and same sex unions. As president, Vicente Fox, attended church and talked about religion which broke a long standing taboo for Mexican presidents and raised some ire against him. Felipe Calderon has done the same as president.

The PRI was the party that came to power in the 1920’s after the Mexican Revolution. They held onto the presidency (through sometimes questionable means) until the PAN won it in 2000.

The PRI are the old left, and the traditional party for rural voters.

They are the party of Lazaro Cardenas, considered by many the greatest president, who successfully nationalized the Mexican oil industry (at the time controlled by foreign companies) which has benefited the country greatly. The PRI is also remembered as the party that has suppressed opposition even violently causing much mistrust among voters. After losing the presidency in 2000 the PRI candidate came in a distant third in the 2006 election.

In the late 80’s Lazaro Cardenas’ son Cuauhtemoc Cardenas split off from the PRI when he didn’t receive the parties presidential nomination.

PRD, the party he formed, gained instant popularity as Cuauhtemoc Cardenas had been one of the most influential and popular men within the PRI.

PRD is the newest of the three main parties.

It was founded by Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, son of the famous PRI president Lazaro Cardenas.

The year the party was formed was the year of presidential elections and Cardenas ran against the PRI candidate Carlos Salinas. Carlos Salinas won the election but under very suspicious circumstances regarding the computer system used for tallying the votes. Public opinion during and after his presidency has judged Salinas very harshly.

In the last election Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was the favorite to win according to all the polls but through numerous attack adds his main opponent Felipe Calderon narrowed the gap and according to the final count, won the election by half a percentage point.

The PRD didn’t give up easily, and their candidate has setup a parallel government with himself has president. This has lost him a lot of his former relevancy, but the PRD party continues to be strong though still hurting over the presidential defeat.