National Action Party (PAN) is a conservative political party in Mexico. In 2000, the PAN made history when its candidate won Mexico’s presidency, ending a 71-year period of government by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
In 1939, Manuel Gómez Morin founded the PAN as an alternative to the Party of the Mexican Revolution (PRM), which later became the PRI. Middle-class professionals, business people, university students, and Roman Catholic activists opposed to the progressive social policies of the PRM joined the new party. The PAN became the major opposition party.
Beginning in the 1950’s, the PAN weakened, as members of the party disagreed about its role. Some members believed the party should continue to call for conservative economic and social policies, and focus on the abuses of the PRI. Others thought it should function as a Christian democratic party that supported religious issues. As a result of these disagreements, the party did not present a presidential candidate in the 1976 election. The PAN regained its standing as the major opposition party in the mid-1980’s.
In 2000, the PAN candidate Vicente Fox Quesada won the presidency. Electoral reforms and widespread public distrust of the PRI helped the PAN achieve victory. In 2012, the PRI made a political comeback. In a presidential election in July, the PAN candidate only placed third behind the PRI candidate. Many Mexicans were unhappy with Mexico’s lagging economy and an increase in drug-related violence under PAN leadership.
