This STRATFOR interactive special report examines the current presidential contenders put forth by Mexico's political parties ahead of the July 1, 2012 general elections. The elections will determine who will succeed Mexican President Felipe Calderon and, by proxy, which party will rule the country. A single party — the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) — ruled Mexico for 71 years, until National Action Party (PAN) candidate Vicente Fox was elected president in 2000. Another opposition party, the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), began challenging the PRI's hold on power in the 1990s. With the PAN's popularity plummeting amid ongoing violence and global economic uncertainty, the PRI appears to be poised to retake control.
