| Description |
This paper explores the question: Why has the largest left-of-center party in Mexico, the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), failed to win a presidential election since democratization? Through an analysis of the presidential campaigns of 200,2006, and 2012, this paper seeks to explain the factors that have prevented the PRD from defeating the institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the National Action Party (PAN), the two other main parties in Mexico. The paper finds that the PRD's electoral losses are due in part to its inability to capture a sufficient percentage of the vote from moderate and independent voters in Mexico. Although PRD candidates have come close to winning the presidency, policy and tactical failings have negatively affected the party's image and the images of its candidates. Additionally, the Pan, and the PRI to a lesser extent, have effectively argued that PRD candidates are unfit for the presidency due to their perceived radicalism and incompetence. This strategy has damaged the PRD candidates' credibility among a large segment of independent voters in Mexico. Additionally, this paper briefly explores the PRD's prospects in the upcoming presidential election of 2018. Resignations from prominent PRD leaders after the 2012 presidential election, the creation of the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), and the murder of students in a city governed by a PRD mayor have brought new challenges to the PRD's electoral prospects in 2018. |
