P.R.D. Leadership Change Symptomatic of Internal Struggles among Political Parties

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The center-left Partido de la Revolucion Democratica (PRD) will enter the next round of major elections in 2006 under new leadership, following the resignation of president Rosario Robles Berlanga.

The pressure from within to oust Robles reflects the internal struggles among all of Mexico's major political parties. The former governing Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) continues to experience a power struggle between the party's secretary-general and legislative floor leader Elba Esther Gordillo and another faction led by former Sonora Gov. Manlio Fabio Beltrones.

The governing center-right Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) recently faced strong divisions in the Senate over conflict- of-interest questions regarding influential Sens. Diego Fernandez de Cevallos and Fauzi Hamdan.

Even the small Partido Verde Ecologista Mexicano (PVEM) faced controversy when the Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federacion (TEPJF) ordered the party to restructure its leadership to allow greater participation by rank-and-file members. The TEPJF's decision was based on a complaint by a party member who was denied funds from the national party for a local election.

PRD leader Rosario Robles resigns under pressure

Robles came under fire for her inability to foster stronger support for the PRD at the national level during the recent congressional elections, even though the center-left party recovered most of the ground lost in the 2000 election (See SourceMex, 2003-07-09).

Perhaps Robles sealed her own fate when she promised on several occasions during campaign speeches this year that the PRD would receive 20% of the national vote in the 2003 elections. "If we fail in this goal, I have no business remaining at the head of this party," Robles said in a speech during the official launch of political campaigns on April 15.

The PRD only received 17% of the nationwide vote, with a large share of the total coming from Mexico City and states where the PRD already …