 The Institutional Revolutionary Party (Spanish: Partido Revolucionario Institucional or PRI) is a Mexican political party that wielded hegemonic power in the country under a succession of names for more than 70 years. Originally, it was known as the Partido Nacional Revolucionario (PNR or National Revolutionary Party), then Partido de la Revolucion Mexicana (PRM or Party of the Mexican Revolution). The evolution of the name may have been due to the acronyms of the original names being the butt of jokes, such as PNR supposedly signifying Plutarco Necesita Robar (Plutarco Needs to Rob). Such jokes were a touchy subject in the days when plutocrats such as Luis Morones were building mansions on Cuernavaca's "Ali Baba Street". The adherents of the PRI party are known in Mexico as priistas.
The party was the result of Plutarco Elías Calles's efforts to stop the violent struggle for power between the victorious factions of the Mexican Revolution, and guarantee the peaceful if not democratic transmission of power for members of the party. Opponents, academics, and historians claim with ample evidence that elections were just a ritual to simulate the appearance of a democracy. However, most analysts agree that Lazaro Cardenas created the broad-based political alliances necessary for the PRI's long-term survival, by splitting the party into interest groups representing different facets of national political life (eg, the Confederacion Nacional Campesino, the PRI farmer's group). Cardenas' strategy with the PRM mirrored the balanced ticket approach of 1930's Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, who created the machine politics characteristic of Chicago by balancing ethnic interests. Settling disputes and power struggles within the party structure helped prevent congressional gridlock and possible armed rebellions, but this style of dispute resolution also created a "rubber stamp" legislative apparatus. In 1990 Peruvian-born Spanish right-wing writer Mario Vargas Llosa called the government under the PRI la dictadura perfecta ("The perfect dictatorship"). In the year 2000, the PRI lost the presidency of Mexico for the first time.
The party, under its three different names, held every major political position for six decades. Only the occasional federal deputy or senator from other parties ever got elected, and the first state governor not to originate from its ranks was not elected until 1989 (Ernesto Ruffo Appel of the PAN in Baja California).
The party had acquired a reputation for dishonesty, and while this was admitted (to a degree) by some of its affiliates, its supporters maintained that the role of the party was crucial in the modernization and stabilization of Mexico. The party was described by some scholars as a "state party", a term which captures both the non-competitive history and character of the party itself, and the inextricable connection between the party and the Mexican state for much of the 20th century. More satirically, the party was also described as the "Ministry for Elections" by the Zapatistas.
Lázaro Cárdenas, perhaps Mexico's most-popular 20th-century president and most renowned for expropriating the oil interests of United States and European petroleum companies in the run-up to World War II, came from the ranks of the PNR. He was a person of leftist ideas who nationalized different industries and provided many social institutions which are dear to the Mexican people. Two other PRI presidents, loved by some and despised by many, Miguel de la Madrid and Carlos Salinas de Gortari privatised many outmoded industries, including banks and roads, and also negotiated NAFTA.
The PRI was heavily criticized for using the colors of the national flag (a tactic mirrored by the Congress Party of India utilizing spinning wheels and a cow as symbols) in its logo, something considered not unreasonable in many countries, but frowned upon in Mexico, as it implies the PRI is the "national party" of Mexico. While there has been no law passed to forbid this act, the PRI has been criticised for this.
The importance of the PRI in Mexican politics should not be underestimated: many top politicians in other parties (most notably PRD's Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas) come from its ranks, as well as state governors (usually PRI members who left the party after losing the gubernatorial candidacy, only to be picked up by an opposing party and go on to win the election).
In recent years the following have been key events in the history of the PRI:
* 1988: Amidst stronger than ever suspicions of electoral fraud, Carlos Salinas de Gortari won the presidential election.
* 1994: For the first time in decades a high profile politician was murdered: PRI presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta was shot during a campaign event. His campaign director, Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, was subsequently elected in the first presidential election monitored by international observers.
* 2000: For the first time since its inception, the PRI lost the presidency to an opposition candidate, Vicente Fox Quesada of the PAN (National Action Party).
* 2003: In midterm elections, the PRI was practically wiped off the map in the Federal District – only one borough mayor (jefe delegacional) out of 16, and no first-past-the-post members of the city assembly – but recouped some significant losses on the state level (most notably, the governorship of former PAN stronghold Nuevo León). It also remained the largest single party in both the Chamber of Deputies and Senate.
* 2004: On August 6, in two controversial and closely-contested elections in Oaxaca and Tijuana, PRI candidates Ulises Ruiz Ortiz and Jorge Hank Rhon won the races for the governorship and municipal presidency respectively. The PAN had held control of the president's office of the municipality of Tijuana for 15 years.
* 2005: Six out of eight gubernatorial elections held during the year are won by the PRI: Quintana Roo, Hidalgo, Colima, Estado de México, Nayarit, and Coahuila. The PRI will now control all the states on the country's northern border with the US except for Baja California. Candidate Roberto Madrazo Pintado has been elected for the presidential elections in 2006, also representing the Partido Verde Ecologista de México (PVEM: Ecologist Green Party of Mexico)
* 2006: PRI presidential candidate Roberto Madrazo Pintado lost the election to an opposition party candidate, falling to a third place at the political map in Mexico. The winner, as announced by the Mexican Election Tribunal, was Felipe Calderon of the ruling PAN Party. In the 2006 presidential elections the PRI claimed that electoral fraud, with voter suppression and violence, was used when the political machine did not work. However, opposing parties now make the same claim against each other (PRD against Fox's PAN and PAN vs. López Obrador's PRD, for example), even though the scale of corruption is almost incomparable
 Partido Revolucionario Institucional PRI (Spanish)
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