Jaime Rodríguez, an independent candidate for governor of Nuevo León, in Mexico City this past week. Photo: Brett Gundlock/ Boreal Collective for The Wall Street Journal
Posted on 05/26/2015 7:28:25 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
A maverick former mayor known as El Bronco is mounting a serious bid to become Mexico's first independent candidate to win a governorship, buoyed by voter mistrust of the country's traditional political parties.
Waging a social media campaign on a shoestring -- paid for largely with the crumpled bills supporters press into his hands on the stump -- Jaime Rodríguez is shaking up politics in Nuevo León, the conservative northern border state that includes the industrial powerhouse of Monterrey, and jolting politicians nationwide.
An opinion poll published Friday in El Norte, Monterrey's leading newspaper, puts Mr. Rodríguez ahead of his rival from the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, in the June 7 vote. The PRI has ruled Nuevo León for 80 of the past 86 years.
Mr. Rodríguez's unlikely bid has emerged as one of the most watched in a midterm election for all 500 seats in Mexico's lower house of Congress, nine governors and hundreds of state legislators, mayors and city councils.
Polls suggest that the PRI and its allies are likely to retain a slight majority in Congress. But that doesn't mean all is well for Mexico's ruling party.
Mr. Rodríguez, a rancher, businessman and thrice-married father of six, represents a new page in Mexican politics: the rise of independent candidates running against the traditional parties, something that was illegal until a 2014 political overhaul passed by Congress.
"This is making the political parties tremble because a candidate without a party, a structure or resources is giving them a fight," Mr. Rodríguez, 58, said in an interview.
June's vote takes place amid mounting voter frustration with underworld violence, a lackluster economy and corruption scandals that have hit all three major parties, especially the PRI.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Jaime Rodríguez, an independent candidate for governor of Nuevo León, in Mexico City this past week. Photo: Brett Gundlock/ Boreal Collective for The Wall Street Journal
"El Bronco" is running as an independent in Nuevo León.
You are looking at a very brave man. It will be a miracle of God’s protecting angels if he isn’t killed by election day…and the list of suspects would include the drug cartels and both political parties.
During my visits to Mexico it’s obvious how fed up Mexicans are with their current system and how contemptuous they are toward all political parties. President Pena Nieto has been reduced to the punchline of jokes. It was hoped that when PAN broke the PRI monopoly 15 years ago things would change but nothing changed.
The “5 families” in Mexico City won’t allow it.
Now imagine a Mexico where they couldn’t use the USA as their poverty “safety valve”.
The brief respite with PAN didn't result in much change, because the entire system is based on top-down patronage (which we would call corruption, when we care at all), and the Mexican constitution, that is, the current one, limits the president to one six year term. That translates as, steal as much for you and your downline as possible in six years. Having the right patron means, you move up at the end of the six years, but ultimately, there's only so much room at the top. Thanks jalisco555.
This is interesting...
*snicker*
Turned out PAN’s plan for Mexican prosperity was to send tens of millions of their underclass to the USA. Utterly despicable.
Yeah, that always seemed absurd to me. Of course, Mexico was in a continual state of civil war during the later 19th and early 20th century, with just a period of liberal dictatorship by Porfirio Diaz. Diaz generally ran unopposed for reelection, but in his last campaign was challenged by a young, hmm, doctor I think, Madero. There was an elation rarely seen before about the new guy. Of course, Diaz fixed the election, but not just a little bit, really obviously, and also at some point threw Madero in jail, where he died in custody. The country went up in flames, Diaz fled into exile with a pile of loot, and died of old age. After a period of fighting from end to end, a couple of generals wound up in power, they and theirs drafted a constitution which limited the president to one term, and then one of them ran for president. He won, served, retired, and the other one ran and won. Near the end of his term the other one ran again, the constitution was amended to permit it, he won the election, was assassinated I believe, and another civil war began. But the current constitution was written after everything simmered down, circa 1920, and everything seems to be okay, other than the coast-to-coast drug cartel violence and top-to-bottom political and police corruption. ;’) PRI was the first party to organize, campaign for, and win national majorities, which permitted it to rig things in its favor (remember, the model back then was up-and-coming socialism); PRI has as its official colors the same found on the flag of Mexico, and no other party is permitted to use them.
Well, from their point of view......doesn’t sound like that bad an idea.
I’d like to send several million people to Canada.
Do or die tonight for CHI; ANA’s better than I thought.
They are damn good. I am confident we’ll force game 7 but not at all confident that we’ll win it.
Either way, the west will win the Cup.
Yes and have faith.
The West will win, yes.
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