It was result of an agglutination of small political left and center-left forces with dissident members from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

[citation needed] On 14 October 1987, Cárdenas was nominated by the Authentic Party of the Mexican Revolution (PARM).

[2][3] It also allied itself with many social organizations, like the Coalition of Workers, Peasants, and Students of the Isthmus (COCEI) (that had gained the local elections in Juchitán de Zaragoza), the Independent Central of Agricultural Workers and Peasants (CIOAC), the Assembly of Districts of the City of Mexico (created after 1985 earthquakes), the Union of Popular Colonies and the Emiliano Zapata Revolutionary Union among others.

This agglomerate of civil parties and organizations would be, along with the Democratic Current of the PRI, the base of the future PRD.

[4] Cárdenas and the other leaders of the FDN would held multitudinous protests against the fraud, but they were unable to prevent Salinas de Gortari from taking office.