ABSTRACT
The Mexican political system has to be counted as one of the most effective systems of power of the twentieth century. With the fall of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, MexicO's Partido Revolutionario Institutional (PRI) became the longest-ruling party in the world. Organized in 1929, it held an effective monopoly on political power until the late 1980s, and in 1999 still held the lion’s share, including the powerful presidency. In recent years, however, a significant move toward a pluralist political system has taken place: opposition parties began winning state governorships and important mayoral elections in the late 1980s, and in 1997 the PRI lost its majority in the Chamber of Deputies. The PRI itself is increasingly subject to internal conflicts and is moving toward internal democracy. In the year 2000 it will for the first time select a presidential candidate through some sort of primary election, rather than by the designation of the outgoing president.
