The Institutional Revolutionary Party has been the dominant political party in Mexico since 1929, and has been the ruling party for the majority of that time. On January 1, 1994 the EZLN declared war on the PRI. The Zapatistas claim the PRI an unjust and illigitimage government and are seeking to return power to the people.

The PRI lost the presidency in the July 2nd elections to Vicente Fox Quesada, a businessman and former governor of the state of Guanajuato, marking the first time in over seven decades that the highest-ranking elected official in México will not be a member of the PRI/PNR/PRM.