Bouncing back? The PRI regains momentum after a shaky internal election. (Politics).

The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) has passed its test. Although it lacked the cohesive influence of its hold on the executive power, the PRI renovated its national presidency without fractures. Now, the same party defeated in the past presidential elections shows itself capable of winning the 2003 federal elections.

INTERNAL SHIFT

The PRI set out to renovate its national leadership, and given that there was no consensus for allowing the PRI hierarchy to elect the leader, and that state PRI administrations also failed in their attempts to establish themselves at the center of the party and elect a national party leader, what was finally decided on was an open election by the party's rank-and-file.

The objective of the election was to carry out a process that had become highly problematic, since the PRI lacks any prior experience with democratic mechanisms to choose its leaders. The PRI's challenge was to maintain party unity, not to transform it, and the election was mostly designed to avoid party reptures, and not necessarily to democratize the party.

In a process in which the arbitrator, PRI Senator Humberto Roque Villanueva, did not act as such, everything was allowed, from the so-called acarreo (en-masse inducement to vote) to the most blatant examples of electoral fraud, and the only rule was to not question the process itself. As such, the internal election was a success for the PRI.

NEW LEADERSHIP

The PRI's new national leadership is composed of a group that, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, was subdued by the ruling neoliberal prusta faction. Roberto Madrazo has all the hallmarks of an old-style prusta. His skills as a political operator and marketer have made him a leader with the vision to enact his political agenda.

Furthermore, the new Secretary General of the National Executive Committee Elba Esther Gordillo, was also formed within the PRI, especially in organized labor groups. She has distinguished herself in union leadership, as did Madrazo, by combining old prusta practices (political favors, corporativism, social justice, etc.) with attitudes that have allowed her to remain relevant to the changes and challenges that Mexico is experiencing.

The challenge of the PRI's new leadership is to overcome it's past reputation, transform the party without causing ruptures, and win back the nation's presidency. In their inaugural speeches, both Madrazo and Gordillo outlined their strategy to undertake said challenge.

ON THE HORIZON

After President Vicente Fox's victory on July 2, 2000, the PRI was lost in a vacuum. Prusmo without its executive power had virtually lost its reason to be--lacking direction, the party didn't know how to act. In the months following the defeat, the PRI was immersed in internal chaos: no other group dared to take the reigns, probably because they did not have the necessary support to impose themselves.

Despite this panorama, then party leader Dulce Maria Sauri maintained party unity, and subsequently, the national panorama began to favor the PRI. President Fox and his administration have not been able to accomplish the expectations of the change and are already feeling the political costs of being in power. The National Action Party (PAN) has not been able to define its relationship with President Fox, and is currently losing popularity.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) is also involved in a hotly-contested process of redefining its own party leadership. It remains to be seen if the PRI's new strategy will successfully jockey it into position for the next presidential elections.

Joel Estudillo Rendon is a member of the board of the Mexican Institute for Political Studies.