Institutional Revolutionary Party

The Institutional Revolutionary Party (Spanish: Partido Revolucionario Institucional, pronounced [paɾˈtiðo reβolusjoˈnaɾjo jnstitusjoˈnal], PRI) is a political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 as the National Revolutionary Party (Spanish: Partido Nacional Revolucionario, PNR). It became the Party of the Mexican Revolution (Spanish: Partido de la Revolución Mexicana, PRM) in 1938 and the PRI in 1946. The party held uninterrupted power in the country for 71 years, from 1929 to 2000.

The PNR was founded in 1929 by Plutarco Elías Calles, Mexico's paramount leader and self-proclaimed Jefe Máximo (Supreme Chief) of the Mexican Revolution. The party was created with the intent of providing a political space in which all the surviving leaders and combatants of the Mexican Revolution could participate to solve the severe political crisis caused by the assassination of president-elect Álvaro Obregón in 1928. Although Calles himself fell into political disgrace and was exiled in 1936, the party continued ruling Mexico until 2000, changing names twice until it became the PRI.