The fall of Mexico’s PRI party, a once-dominant political force
Al Jazeera
As the June 2 election nears, experts say the PRI remains weak, limping to a lacklustre result in the presidential race.
Mexico City, Mexico – Such a political turnaround would have been almost unthinkable a decade ago.
Since 2009, Alejandra del Moral had been synonymous with the conservative Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI, Mexico’s then-dominant political beast.
She was the youngest mayor in the country at the time and the first woman to lead Cuautitlán Izcalli, a prominent suburb of Mexico City. She later represented the party in the national Congress.
But on May 27, mere days before a pivotal election, an unexpected photo appeared on social media: del Moral, smiling arm in arm with Claudia Sheinbaum, a leader for the left-leaning Movement for National Regeneration or Morena.
Del Moral had resigned from the PRI. She had thrown her support behind Morena instead.
