MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) ended 2008 on a roll. The party, which had ruled Mexico for 71 years until losing power in 2000, overwhelmingly swept local and legislative elections in five of the six states holding them last year. On the federal level, its federal lawmakers achieved legislative success in a divided Congress by brokering deals on such matters as reforms to the criminal justice system, public security and the petroleum industry. Public opinion polls now list the PRI as the most popular of Mexico's three major parties, and no longer -- as in the recent past -- the one that voters would "never" opt for, according to a Buendía & Laredo survey published in the newspaper El Universal.
Mexico’s PRI Stages a Political Comeback
