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Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano (born May 1, 1934) is a prominent Mexican politician. He's a former governor of Michoacán and the founder of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).
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He was born in Mexico City, the son of Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas del Río.
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas served as senator for the state of Michoacán from 1974 to 1980 and as governor for the same state from 1980 to 1986. He won election to these two posts as a member of the then ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
During the PRI primaries for the presidency in 1988; he received the support from several small left wing parties and was the presidential candidate of the Frente Democrático Nacional (Democratic National Front), a loose alliance of these organizations in 1988. Although he ultimately lost, many people believe that he was the actual winner: the ruling PRI was accused of rigging the election to favor its candidate Carlos Salinas de Gortari, famously claiming that there had been a massive systems crash with the computer system used to track the results. The PRI had a longstanding reputation for dubious electoral tactics. After many policy disagreements between Cardenas and the PRI, he and a small but influential group of followers decided to leave.
The following year (5 May 1989), Cárdenas and other leading center-left and leftist politicians formally founded the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). He was this new party's candidate in the 1994 presidential election, in which he was placed third, trailing the PRI and PAN candidates, with 17% of the national vote.
In 1997 he was the PRD's candidate for the newly created post of Head of Government (Jefe de Gobierno) of the Federal District – effectively, a role lying somewhere between that of Mexico City's mayor and a state governorship. He won this election, held on 6 July 1997, with a 47.7% share of the popular vote.
He resigned in 1999 (being succeeded by one of his allies, Rosario Robles), to run for the presidency again in 2000, and was again placed third, with a 17% share.
Today, Cárdenas remains a senior member of the PRD, and is considered the 'moral leader' of this party. It is unknown if he will seek a fourth presidential candidacy in 2006. Though his influence in the party is great, it seems to be waning as the political banner within the party seems to be shifting towards Andrés Manuel López Obrador, possibly the next presidential candidate.
Following claims of scandalous corruption by close associates of López Obrador during March 2004, Cárdenas' prospects within the party may well be on the rise. He has certainly been in apparent decline before, only to demonstrate a surprising resilience and keen political survival skills. He renounced all posts in his party because he thought it was necessary to clean the slate to wade through the corruption scandals, but he is still a member and is in good terms with the current party leader.
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