Cuauhtemoc Cardenas

He was born in Mexico City, the son of Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas del Río.

Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas served as senator for the state of Michoacán from 1974 to 1980 and as governer for the same state from 1980 to 1986. These two elected posts were on behalf of the the then ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). After many policy disagreements with his party, he -along with a small but influential group- decided to leave; he then received the support from several small left wing parties and was the presidential candidate of the FDN, a loose alliance of these organizations in 1988.

Although he ultimately lost, many people believe that he was the actual winner: the ruling PRI was accused of rigging the election to favor their candidate Carlos Salinas de Gortari, famously claiming that there had been a massive systems crash with the computer system used to track the results and in line with their well known dubious electoral tactics.

The following year (5 May 1989) Cárdenas and other leading center-left and leftist politicians formally founded the Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD). He was this new party's candidate in the 1994 presidential election, in which he was placed third, after the PRI and PAN candidates, with 17% of the national vote.

In 1997 he was the PRD's candidate for the newly created post of Head of Government (Jefe de Gobierno) of the Federal District – effectively, a role lying somewhere between that of Mexico City's mayor and a state governorship. He won this election, held on 6 July 1997, with a 47.7% share of the popular vote.

He ran for the presidency again in 2000, and was again placed third, with a 16% share.

Today, Mr. Cardenas remains a a senior member of the PRD, and considered the 'moral leader' of this party. It is unknown if he will seek a fourth presidential candidacy in 2006. Though his influence in the party is great, it seems to be waning as the political banner within the party seems to be shifting towards Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the hier apparent of Mr. Cárdenas as the leader of the PRD.

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