Roberto Madrazo, the leftist candidate for the Institutional Revolutionary Party, trails behind two other candidates in the race for Mexico's president.

From the end of the Mexican civil war in 1929 to 2000, Madrazo's party, known by its Spanish abbreviation PRI, dominated Mexican politics, winning every presidential election for 71 years, all state elections until 1989 and a majority of congressional seats until 1997.

In recent years however, confidence in the PRI has dwindled, opposing parties have emerged and in 2000, it lost the presidential election to Vicente Fox of the National Action Party, or PAN. Madrazo still holds support in the rural states in the countryside championing rights for the poor, but faces opposition in other areas and even from within his own party.

"Independent analysts frequently describe him as a crook, and anti-democrat and a dinosaur," wrote Daniel Erikson in the World Policy Journal, because of his connections with the old guard of the PRI and Tijuana's Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon, who has been investigated by the United States for allegedly laundering drug money.

And from what polls show, few voters support his candidacy and he lags in third place behind Felipe Calderon of Fox's PAN and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD.

A rivalry between Obrador and Madrazo extends back to 1994 when Madrazo beat Obrador for the governorship of Tabasco, a dusty southern state that is home to both candidates. To win the race, Madrazo reportedly gave cash to voters, funded a large media campaign and spent $70 million, more than 60 times the campaign limit, according to Erikson.

In April 2005, Madrazo's party tried to disqualify Obrador from running in the 2006 race by pushing to impeach him as mayor of Mexico City over his refusal to abide by a court ruling to halt a construction project. The attempt ultimately failed and Obrador retained his position as mayor.

During his 2006 presidential campaign, Madrazo pledged to create 9 million jobs in six years, offer scholarships to low-income students and create a special fund for the betterment of the poor in southern Mexico. Calling himself a progressive leftist, he rejected his own party's free-market economic reforms.

Madrazo became the PRI's president in 2002. His election was tainted by accusations of ballot-fixing and reports that he won more votes than participating voters at some polling stations, according to the Mexico edition of the Miami Herald.

The PRI chose him to hold the party together, but the controversy surrounding his election caused some of its members to turn against him. His aggressive campaign for party leader drove Elba Esther Gordillo, an influential head of the teacher's union, from public life and turned her from an ally into a rival.

After years of public fighting within the PRI, and despite his rise to party chief, Madrazo has become one of the most unpopular politicians in the country and even his supporters are leaving the party or advising people to vote for the leading two candidates in the presidential elections, according to the Arizona Daily Star.

Many voters now see Madrazo's PRI as a symbol of corruption and inefficiency, despite his pledges to reform the party, and have turned to the PAN and the PRD in the 2006 national elections.

Madrazo attempted a presidential run in 2000 spending $25 million of state money on his campaign but lost the PRI nomination to Francisco Labastida who in turn lost the presidency to Fox.

Born in Villahermosa, Tabasco, Madrazo grew up in a politically connected family. His father Carlos served as the state's governor and became the president of PRI. When he was 17, his parents died in a plane crash historians think was arranged to kill his father, according to the Washington Post.

He served as a member of Congress from 1976-79 and 1991-93 and as a senator from 1988-91, according to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.

Madrazo earned a law degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and a master's in urban development from the University of California.

He has been married three times. His current wife, Isabel de la Parra, told the Associated Press that she was keeping a low profile and will not get involved in her husband's campaign.

-- Compiled by Anna Shoup for the Online NewsHour