While Fox hoped for gains in midterm congressional elections this year, it was the PRI that gained seats while Fox's party saw its share fall one-quarter to 151 seats in the 500-seat lower house of Congress.
"Now the situation is complicated," Chabat said. "There is no time. We are in the second half of his government" and politicians are already starting to look toward the 2006 presidential races.
"I think that the Fox government is basically over, that he won't reach any important change in the coming years," he said.
Like earlier PRI presidents, Fox has promoted his administration heavily on television and radio. One often-broadcast radio spot repeatedly sang: "Thank you, Vicente Fox, for democracy."
However, his office said he didn't have any immediate plans to mark his three-year presidential anniversary today.
Fox remains popular. A September poll, conducted by the Reforma newspaper and with a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points, found that 57 percent of voters approved of his performance -- about the same level as at the end of 2001.
But when asked if they believed him when he speaks about the accomplishments of his government, a narrow majority said no.
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