| Party of the Democratic Revolution | |
| Native Name: | Partido de la Revolución Democrática |
| Logo Upright: | 0.6 |
| President: | Jesús Zambrano Grijalva |
| Secretary: | Adriana Díaz Contreras |
| Founders: | Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Porfirio Muñoz Ledo Ifigenia Martínez y Hernández Andrés Manuel López Obrador |
| Dissolved: | 10 June 2024 (at national level)[1] |
| Split: | Institutional Revolutionary Party (majority) |
| Predecessor: | National Democratic Front, Mexican Socialist Party (legal predecessor) |
| Headquarters: | Colonia Escandón, C.P. 11800. Mexico City Mexico |
| Youth Wing: | Juventudes de Izquierda |
| Membership Year: | 2023 |
| Membership: | 999,249[2] |
| National: | Fuerza y Corazón por México (2023–2024) |
| Continental: | São Paulo Forum COPPPAL |
| International: | Progressive Alliance[3] |
| Seats2 Title: | Senate |
| Seats3 Title: | Governorships |
| Seats4 Title: | State legislatures |
| Country: | Mexico |
The Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD, Spanish; Castilian: Partido de la Revolución Democrática, pronounced as /es/) is a state-level[4] social democratic[5] political party in Mexico (previously national, until 2024). The PRD originated from the Democratic Current, a political faction formed in 1986 from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The PRD was formed after the contested general election in 1988, which the PRD's immediate predecessor, the National Democratic Front, believed was rigged by the PRI. This sparked a movement away from the PRI's authoritarian rule.
As of 2023, the PRD was a member of the Fuerza y Corazón por México (Strength and Heart for Mexico) coalition. Internationally, the PRD was a member of the Progressive Alliance.[3] The members of the party are known colloquially in Mexico as Perredistas. In 2024, the party failed to reach the necessary percentage of votes to keep its registration as a national political party.
The PRD had its origins with the leftist members of the PRI, Institutional Revolutionary Party.[6] The PRI had dominated Mexican politics since its founding in 1929.[7] In 1986, a group of PRI members – including Ifigenia Martínez,, Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, and Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas – formed the Democratic Current, a political faction within the PRI.[6]
The Democratic Current aimed to pressure the PRI to become a more democratic party and to address the issue of national debt including the social effects of the economic crisis that came from attempting to pay that debt. The Democratic Current was also against technocratization, in which the people in power had not held public office and were scholars that were often educated abroad. Under the Miguel de la Madrid presidency which lasted from 1982 - 1988, the PRI and Mexico were moving towards a technocracy especially since de la Madrid was a technocrat himself.[8] The Democratic Current did not have many technocrats and was thus left out of the decision-making process. This political marginalization led the Democratic Current members to be more vocal about their concerns because they did not have a position of power to protect within the PRI.After public criticisms and debate between the Democratic Current and the PRI, ten Democratic Current members signed Working Document Number One which was the official beginning of the Democratic Current.[6] However, the PRI refused to acknowledge the Democratic Current as an organization unless they joined a union, which was allowed in the PRI.[6] The forming of a group that was not united because of work but because of difference in ideology within the PRI caused fear of division within the party.[6]
Once de la Madrid's six-year term as president was coming to a close, the PRI chose six possible candidates for president and notably did not choose Cárdenas.[6] The PRI had no process to apply as candidate so Cárdenas could not run as a candidate for president.[6] On 4 October 1987, Carlos Salinas de Gortari was ultimately chosen as the PRI candidate.[6] Gortari did not embody anything that the Democratic Current wanted and many of the Democratic Current members left the PRI including Cárdenas during November 1987.[9] [6] Some Democratic Current members went on to support Cárdenas in his 1988 quest for presidency and help in the founding of the PRD.[6]
On 12 October 1987, Cárdenas became the Authentic Party of the Mexican Revolution's presidential candidate.[6] Cárdenas still remained an independent candidate due to electoral laws which meant that many parties could choose Cárdenas as their candidate.[6] The groups of the independent left that supported Cárdenas were the Mexican Socialist Party which included the Unified Socialist Party of Mexico, the Mexican Workers' Party, the Patriotic Revolutionary Party, the Communist Left Unity, and the People's Revolutionary Movement.[9] [6] The parastatal groups, state-owned enterprises that are separate from government, that supported Cárdenas were the Authentic Party of the Mexican Revolution, Popular Socialist Party, and the Party of the Cardenist Front of National Reconstruction, which made up the National Democratic Front.[9] Other groups that supported Cárdenas were the Social Democratic Party, Ecologist Green Party of Mexico, Democratic Unity,, Critical Point Revolutionary Organization, and Neighborhood Assembly[9] In order to provide a mechanism to coordinate and communicate with one another about campaign activities, these groups formed a coordinating body named the National Democratic Front (Mexico). The Mexican Socialist Party did not join in an official capacity, rather the party signed a separate pact with the Democratic Current.[10]
In the 1988 presidential election, Cárdenas had come closer than any other political candidate to winning against the PRI, which had been in power since 1929.[11] The victory of the PRI's candidate, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, was largely considered guilty of electoral fraud in 1988; this was after the computers tabulating votes had reportedly crashed.[6] As a result, Cárdenas claimed that he had won the election, although he never declared himself president. The National Democratic Front continued to support Cárdenas by signing a Declaration for the Defense of Popular Sovereignty.[10] Protests erupted in support of Cárdenas, the largest of which occurred on 16 July and had an attendance of at least 300,000 people. Nonetheless, the election was ratified.[12] Years later, it was determined that there was indeed electoral fraud in the election.[6] [11]
The 1988 election sparked a movement against the authoritarian rule of the PRI.[11] As an integral part of the movement towards democracy, the Party of the Democratic Revolution was formed as Mexico's only leftwing party.[11] On 5 May 1989, Cárdenas declared the establishment of the PRD.[11] Former PRI members who also helped found the PRD include: Cárdenas, Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, Ifigenia Martínez y Hernández and Andrés Manuel López Obrador.[11]
The party was founded by smaller left-wing parties such as the Mexican Communist Party (PCM), Unified Socialist Party of Mexico (PSUM), Mexican Socialist Party (PMS) and Mexican Workers' Party (PMT).[11] The PMS donated its registration with the Federal Electoral Commission (CFE) to enable the new party to be established.[11]
Small leftist group leaders joined the PRD which left small leftist organizations vulnerable.[13] Additionally, some leftist organizations were wary that their individual concerns would be lost by joining a political group.[13]
In the early years, the PRD was not successful in elections because of electoral fraud.[9] The PRD often claimed that the PRI was participating in electoral fraud.[11] This was in contrast to PAN, the conservative party, who chose to cooperate with the PRI.[11] However, the PRD also cooperated with the PRI to make policy changes that moved towards democracy.[11]
Salinas, PRI member and president of Mexico from 1988 to 1994, had made some improvements to the Mexican economy but Mexico still did not have a democratic system.[9] During this time the PRD had become involved with many social justice movements against the neoliberal and antidemocratic policies of the PRI.[9] The most famous of which was the party's involvement with the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN). Some members of the party wanted to strongly and publicly denounce the armed struggle, whereas others decided to emphatically approve the movement and its goals therefore, it was difficult to form a united front. Nonetheless, many PRD supporters also supported the EZLN and bolstered the movement through the use of posters and murals at PRD events. Although, these instances portrayed the party to appear to be more radical than they actually were, Cárdenas himself took advantage of this support. He met with Subcomandante Marcos and did not attempt to distance the party from the EZLN. This support did not pay off as the EZLN did not help the PRD win any votes and Marcos accused the PRD of being the same as the PRI and PAN. The PRI labeled Cárdenas and the PRD as sympathizers of the EZLN and supporters of armed struggle.[12] Additionally, the PRD had a difficult time transitioning from a movement with a non-negotiable goal to a party that pushed gradual reforms.[11]
Cárdenas ran for national presidency under the PRD in 1994.[6] Cárdenas ran against Diego Fernández, PAN candidate, and PRI party winner of the election, Ernesto Zedillo Ponce.[11] Cárdenas made the Alianza Democrática Nacional campaign, where he mobilized 57 organizations.[11] Cárdenas did not cooperate well with the PRD and was sometimes contradictory to the PRD.[11]
The PRI used its media influence to promote the idea that changing the governing party would disrupt the nation[9] as well as to portray Cárdenas and the PRD as confrontational and violent.[11]
After his loss Cárdenas claimed fraud; however, the party did not support him and instead focused on winning seats in congress.[11]
In 1997, the PRD won its first governorship with Cárdenas as governor of Mexico City.[6] The PRD also gained the second largest majority in the Chamber of Deputies.[9] These victories were due in part to changes in electoral rules.[9] These changes included the creation of the new Federal Elections Institute in 1990 which established six independent councilors who required legislative approval.[12]
This division between currents was seen during the internal election of 14 March 1999 when there were voting discrepancies.[9]
By the end of 1999, 650 members of the PRD had been assassinated, mostly by the PRI, as a way to intimidate those working towards democracy, civic engagement, and social movements.[9]
After the election of Vicente Fox, PAN candidate, the PRD announced that it would not file any complaints about the elections.[14] This was a shift in strategy from the usual protests of fraud.[14] However, some local PRD activists groups filed complaints but these were turned down by the PRD and the electoral court.[14]
The former mayor of Mexico City, 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.[13] López Obrador ran against Felipe Calderón, PAN candidate, and Roberto Madrazo, PRI candidate.[13]
López Obrador's campaign relied on citizen's networks (redes ciudadanas) that focused on mobilizing the public to campaign.[13] This strategy focused on López Obrador as an individual and not the PRD.[13] This was worrisome to PRD leaders because they thought that the PRD's concerns would not be addressed.[13] However, many party members thought that López Obrador would win so these concerns were not addressed.[13]
After the general election of 2 July 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, about 243,000 votes.[13] [15] These results were later validated by the Federal Electoral Tribunal. However, the PRD claimed that there was election fraud.[11] The claims of election fraud have been rejected by the Federal Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF), which considered these "notoriously out of order" ("notoriamente improcedente") and certified PAN's candidate Felipe Calderón as the winner.
López Obrador then rallied his supporters to hold demonstrations in the capital, Mexico City.[16] These demonstrations were organized by the PRD, whose stronghold is in Mexico City.[16] 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 a recount of all votes, which was not granted. The camps were later dismantled after confrontation with the Mexican Army became likely.
On 5 September, the Federal Electoral Tribunal announced that there was not enough evidence of electoral fraud which legitimized Calderon as president.[13] This caused López Obrador to maintain his campaign of civil disobedience and declared himself as "Legitimate President"[13] in a "public open vote" (people in the main square raising their hands). López Obrador did not recognize the legitimacy of Calderón as president.[13] The PRD was criticized for not complying with the democratic system that it had lauded and helped create.[11] However, the PRD could not agree on whether they should move forward and cooperate with the current system and contribute to policy or take on an uncompromising stance in an attempt to overturn the current system.[11] This split later trickled on to other things such as electoral and petroleum reforms where one part of the party wanted to cooperate while the other refused to out of allegiance to López Obrador.[11]
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 maintaining his ties to the PRD.
The party had enjoyed a reputation of honesty unmatched by its competitors, until the "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.
Later, another video was recorded by Cuba's government where Carlos Ahumada, the man providing the money, states that members of the PRI and PAN, PRD's rivals, were planning the situation presented in the first video as part of a plot against Andrés Manuel López Obrador to discredit him as a possible presidential candidate.
Party members who were seen on the video tapes were expelled from the party, but those who were supposedly associated, but never legally charged, are still active members.
López Obrador ran for president again in 2012,[11] but lost to Enrique Peña Nieto.
After the loss, López Obrador told a rally in Mexico City's main plaza Zocalo on 9 September 2012 that he would withdraw from the Democratic Revolution Party "on the best of terms," as well as the Labor Party and Citizens' Movement (MC). He added that he was working on founding a new party from the Movement for National Regeneration, which he would later name MORENA.[17]
The defeat of the PAN and the PRD in the Mexico general elections in 2012, as well as the departure of Andrés Manuel López Obrador from the PRD, caused these two parties to approach each other despite the friction obtained in the 2006 general elections.[18] [19]
During 2017, Ricardo Anaya, then President of PAN, announced his party's proposal to create an alliance of politicians called "Opposition Wide Front" in order to "form a coalition government that will result in a stable majority that can be governed the country and make the change of regime a reality."[20]
On 5 September the PAN formalized an alliance with PRD and MC under the name of "Citizen Front for Mexico," registering the coalition before the National Electoral Institute, an alliance to last for 6 years.[21]
On 17 December, the three parties ratified the alliance with the creation of an electoral coalition to participate in the federal elections of 2018 and multiple state elections with the name of "Por México al Frente."[22]
In August 2018 PRD abandoned Por México al Frente. In early 2019, the PRD split, with nine deputies leaving the PRD and joining Morena and the government coalition of López Obrador. This gave the government a two-thirds majority, allowing for the passage of constitutional reform.[23]
On 22 December 2020, the PRD formed the new alliance Va por México, together with the National Action Party and the Institutional Revolutionary Party.[24]
In 2023, the PRD, along with the National Action Party and the Institutional Revolutionary Party formed the Fuerza y Corazón por México, an electoral alliance that is to compete in the 2024 Mexican general election with Xóchitl Gálvez as the coalitions’ presidential candidate against the Sigamos Haciendo Historia coalition’s candidate Claudia Sheinbaum of the Morena party.
Having lost the election and failing to have achieved 3% of the national vote in the 2024 general election (in the election for president, Senate, nor Chamber of Deputies), the party lost its registration as a national party.[25] It will remain registered as a state-level party and it can participate in the local elections of Aguascalientes, Baja California Sur, Guerrero, Mexico City, Michoacán, Morelos, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, the State of Mexico, Tabasco, Tlaxcala and Zacatecas.[26]
| Election year | Candidate |
| % vote | Result | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas | 5,852,134 | 17.1 | Defeated | ||
| 2000 | Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas | 6,256,780 | 16.6 | Defeated | Coalition: Alliance for Mexico | |
| 2006 | Andrés Manuel López Obrador | 14,756,350 | 35.3 | Defeated | Coalition: Coalition for the Good of All | |
| 2012 | Andrés Manuel López Obrador | 15,848,827 | 31.6 | Defeated | Coalition: Broad Progressive Front | |
| 2018 | Ricardo Anaya | 12,607,779 | 22.27 | Defeated | Coalition: Por México al Frente | |
| 2024 | Xóchitl Gálvez | 16,502,697 | 28.11 | Defeated | Coalition: Fuerza y Corazón por México |
| Election year | Constituency | PR | No. of seats | Position | Presidency | Note | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |||||||
| 1994 | 5,590,391 | 16.7 | 5,728,733 | 16.7 | Minority | |||||
| 1997 | 7,435,456 | 25.7 | 7,518,903 | 25.7 | Minority | |||||
| 2000 | 6,948,204 | 18.7 | 6,990,143 | 18.7 | Minority | Coalition: Alliance for Mexico | ||||
| 2003 | 4,694,365 | 18.2 | 4,707,009 | 18.2 | Minority | |||||
| 2006 | 11,941,842 | 29.0 | 12,013,364 | 29.0 | Minority | Coalition: Coalition for the Good of All | ||||
| 2009 | 4,217,985 | 12.2 | 4,228,627 | 12.2 | Minority | |||||
| 2012 | 13,426,702 | 27.0 | 13,502,179 | 27.0 | Minority | Coalition: Broad Progressive Front | ||||
| 2015 | 1,941,105 | 5.13 | 4,335,731 | 10.87 | Minority | Coalition: Broad Progressive Front | ||||
| 2018 | 96,393 | 0.17 | 2,984,861 | 5.27 | Minority | Coalition: For Mexico to the Front | ||||
| 2021 | 248,505 | 0.51 | 1,792,700 | 3.64 | Minority | Coalition: Va por México | ||||
| 2024 | 20,374 | 0.04 | 1,449,660 | 2.53 | Minority | Coalition: Fuerza y Corazón por México | ||||
| Election year | Constituency | PR | No. of seats | Position | Presidency | Note | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |||||||
| 1994 | 5,579,949 | 16.8 | Minority | |||||||
| 1997 | 7,564,656 | 25.8 | Minority | |||||||
| 2000 | 7,027,944 | 18.9 | 7,027,994 | 18.8 | Minority | Coalition: Alliance for Mexico | ||||
| 2006 | 12,292,512 | 29.7 | 12,397,008 | 29.7 | Minority | Coalition: Coalition for the Good of All | ||||
| 2012 | 13,609,393 | 27.2 | 13,718,847 | 27.3 | Minority | Coalition: Broad Progressive Front | ||||
| 2018 | 96,393 | 0.17 | 2,984,861 | 5.27 | Minority | Coalition: For Mexico to the Front | ||||
| 2024 | 76,082 | 0.13 | 1,363,012 | 2.36 | Minority | Coalition: Fuerza y Corazón por México | ||||
Source:[27]
| Years in office | Chief of government | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–1999 | Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas | ||
| 1999–2000 | Rosario Robles | ||
| 2000–2005 | Andrés Manuel López Obrador | ||
| 2005–2006 | Alejandro Encinas | ||
| 2006–2012 | Marcelo Ebrard | ||
| 2012–2018 | Miguel Ángel Mancera | ||
| 2018 | José Ramón Amieva |
| Years in office | Candidate | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998–2004 | Ricardo Monreal Ávila | ||
| 2004–2010 | Amalia García |
| Years in office | Candidate | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999–2005 | Leonel Cota Montaño | ||
| 2005–2011 | Narciso Agúndez Montaño |
| Years in office | Candidate | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002–2008 | Lázaro Cárdenas Batel | ||
| 2008–2012 | Leonel Godoy |
| Years in office | Candidate | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005–2011 | Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo | ||
| 2011–2015 | Ángel Aguirre Rivero |
| Years in office | Candidate | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000–2006 | Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía | ||
| 2011–2015 | Juan Sabines |
The PRD believes that Mexico currently has major problems of economic and social inequality that halt social development and affect liberty and democratic coexistence.[28] Which is why the PRD has developed the following principles for their political party.
The PRD defends the educational principles that inspired the third article of the constitution and alights itself with an education -from beginning education to university- that is secular, public, free, scientific, and of quality, as well as an education that strengthens national identity.[28]
The PRD, since its founding, believes that the state should have jurisdiction and should intervene in the fundamental and prioritized areas of the productive sector, as are nutrition, production of clean energy, telecommunications, the process of technology, infrastructure, communication mediums, financial systems, and technology trade for the national and regional development, restraining ownership and dominion of hydrocarbons and radio-electric spectrum for the nation and the recovery of basic goods that guarantee sovereignty.[28]
The PRD defends the rights of every Mexican worker, the preservation and expansion of social security and the permanent improvements of contractual conditions.[28]
The PRD adopts the principle of sustainable development as well as preserving the cultural environment. The PRD does this to satisfy the necessities of current and future generations, based on the responsible use of natural resources, including new tools for development, that would allow for the protection and recovery of the environment with comprehensive public policy.[28]
The PRD supports the self-determination of communities, non-intervention, legal equality of states, the cooperation for national development and sovereignty and the respect and incorporation of international treaties to legislation.[28]
The PRD consists of: congresses, councils, and executive committees, an assembly, and a committee.[29] The nation, states, and municipalities have the same organization.[9] They each have a congress, a council, and an executive committee.[9] Congress has the most authority, the council coordinates communication between congresses, and the executive committee applies the guidelines set in place by the council.[9] The maximum rule for any elected position is three years.[29] The national, state, and municipal president cannot be reelected for the same position.[29] The PRD has an anti-discriminatory policy for its internal elections.[9] The PRD has policies put in place that guarantee the inclusion of women, young people, and indigenous people.[9]
The National Congress is the maximum authority of the PRD.[30] The National Congress approves the statue, the declaration of principles, the program, and the political organization of the party.[30] 90% of the National Congress is made up from delegates elected in municipal assemblies.[29] The rest of the National Congress is made up by two delegates for each State Council, the presidents of the State Councils, the members of the National Executive Committee, and by the elected delegates of the National Council that shall not exceed 4% of the total delegates in the Party's Congress.[29] The National Council chooses the majority of its 21-member executive committee except for the president of the party, the secretary of the party, and the parliamentary group coordinators.[29]
In 2014, the PRD became the first political party to have internal elections organized by the Federal Electoral Institute where those affiliated with the party could vote for the members of the National Congress and Council as well as State and Municipal Councils.[31] [32] 2 million people participated in the internal elections which is about 45% of those affiliated with the party.[32]
Inside the PRD, there are "currents" that are dedicated to specific approaches and stances or about specific themes or movements.[9] These include:
| Years in office | President | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989–1993 | Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas | ||
| 1993 | Roberto Robles Garnica | Interim | |
| 1993–1996 | Porfirio Muñoz Ledo | ||
| 1996–1999 | Andrés Manuel López Obrador | ||
| 1999 | Pablo Gómez Álvarez | Interim | |
| 1999–2002 | Amalia García | ||
| 2002–2003 | Rosario Robles | ||
| 2003–2005 | Leonel Godoy Rangel | Interim | |
| 2005–2008 | Leonel Cota Montaño | ||
| 2008 | Graco Ramírez and Raymundo Cárdenas | Legal representatives | |
| 2008 | Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo | Interim | |
| 2008–2011 | Jesús Ortega | ||
| 2011–2014 | Jesús Zambrano Grijalva | ||
| 2014–present | Carlos Navarrete Ruiz |