The Mexican political party voted out of office in 2000 after 71 years in power was the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.
The PRI governed Mexico continuously from 1929 until 2000, making it one of the longest-ruling political parties in modern history. It began as the National Revolutionary Party before adopting the name Institutional Revolutionary Party in 1946. During its long rule, the PRI built a powerful political machine that connected national leaders, state governments, labor unions, and rural organizations.
In the 2000 presidential election, PRI candidate Francisco Labastida lost to Vicente Fox of the conservative National Action Party, or PAN. Fox’s victory marked the first peaceful transfer of the presidency from the PRI to an opposition party since the modern Mexican political system took shape.
The PRI later returned to the presidency in 2012 with Enrique Peña Nieto, but lost again in 2018. The party’s 2000 defeat is widely regarded as a major milestone in Mexico’s transition toward competitive multiparty democracy.