Alliance for Mexico (Spanish: Alianza por México) was a political coalition in Mexico that participated in the 2006 federal elections. The alliance was formed on 2 February 2006 by three major parties:
- National Action Party (Partido Acción Nacional, PAN) – a center‑right, conservative party.
- Party of the Democratic Revolution (Partido de la Revolución Democrática, PRD) – a center‑left, social‑democratic party.
- New Alliance Party (Partido Nueva Alianza, PANAL) – a centrist party with origins in the teachers’ union.
Purpose and Platform
The coalition was created to present a unified front in the presidential, congressional, and local elections held on 2 July 2006. Its platform emphasized:
- Economic stability and growth, with a focus on fiscal responsibility.
- Strengthening democratic institutions and political pluralism.
- Social policies aimed at reducing poverty and improving education.
- Security measures to address organized crime and public safety.
Electoral Performance
In the 2006 presidential election, the coalition’s candidate was Roberto Madrazo, the then‑president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). However, due to internal disagreements and the presence of separate PRI candidates, the alliance did not field a unified presidential nominee; instead, its member parties ran their own candidates. The coalition’s primary impact was in congressional races, where it sought to secure seats in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
- Chamber of Deputies: The alliance achieved a modest share of the vote, securing approximately 10 % of the national proportional representation seats, translating to around 30–35 deputies.
- Senate: The coalition won a small number of Senate seats, primarily through the proportional representation lists of its constituent parties.
Dissolution
The Alliance for Mexico was a temporary electoral arrangement. Following the 2006 elections, the coalition dissolved as the member parties returned to independent operation for subsequent electoral cycles. No formal continuation of the alliance was registered for later elections, and no new joint platform was presented.
Historical Context
The formation of Alianza por México reflected a broader trend in Mexican politics of strategic electoral coalitions, especially when parties sought to maximize representation under the mixed‑member electoral system that combines single‑member districts with proportional representation. The 2006 alliance was notable for bringing together parties from divergent ideological spectrums (center‑right, center‑left, and centrist) in an effort to counterbalance the dominance of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the National Action Party (PAN) in certain regions.
Legacy
While the Alliance for Mexico did not achieve lasting influence, its existence illustrated the fluid nature of party alliances in Mexico’s multiparty system. Subsequent elections saw other coalitions, such as the Pacto por México (2012) and the Juntos Haremos Historia (2018), which similarly combined parties across the ideological spectrum to pursue common electoral objectives.