José Agustín Ortiz Pinchetti: Awakening in the Fourth Republic

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no cause for wonder in our political life is the long validity of the single party, known as PRI, although its origin dates back many years before. Contrary to popular belief, the single party was not a brilliant invention by Calles. Years before, Carranza and Obregón had thought of the need to unite the groups that had survived the Revolution and that boasted of themselves as revolutionariesbut without a doubt, it was Calles’ credit for having concretized the possibility: to discipline and unify all the political forces in force after Obregón’s death.

We can say that the single party that began as the National Revolutionary Party (PNR) was a feat. Let’s review its validity: 10 six-year terms in power, without ever losing an election for President of the Republic. The party managed to unite the political class. It prevented the massacres by which the struggle for power had been defined and was the source from which the government was able to draw public administrators to carry out its programs.

Everything to serve ends. The party began to weaken due to its successes as it did not leave room for its competitors, who began to grow from the 1960s. It lacked the flexibility to allow the entry of people with a renewal mindset. He had to violently repress, first the trade union movements and then those of us who demanded respect for human rights and public dialogue. In its long history, it had used electoral fraud when the popular will did not coincide with the decisions of the party. In 1988 it reached its climax, they threw the electoral system to justify altering the results.

Things tended to get worse as time went on and the party lacked a reformist president. The disaster in which the Salinas government ended forced President Zedillo to loosen controls and allow alternation: the PAN managed to win the Presidency, but did not change the regime.

Many wonder if a single party could be re-established, I think it is impossible. Not because there aren’t people who are delighted with this restoration, even if they come to represent a majority within the citizenry. There may be tendencies towards a party dictatorship, but the plurality of Mexican society would prevent a new hegemony. The single party belongs to the past and cannot be restored.