Upcoming Jalisco Elections Could Upend Traditional Politics in Mexico Duncan Tucker - VICE News
go to original May 13, 2015

Guadalajara mayoral candidate Alfaro delivers a campaign speech in a rundown city park. (Duncan Tucker)

Years of constant bloodshed and unchecked corruption have fueled disillusionment in the country ahead of this summer's midterm elections. But in Guadalajara, the nation's second-largest city, there are signs that the June 7 elections could herald a shift toward what some voters hope could be a more citizen-led model of government.

Two candidates in particular have stoked a sense of optimism: Enrique Alfaro of the liberal Citizen's Movement party, and Pedro Kumamoto, a young independent candidate for the Jalisco state congress.

Alfaro, who is currently leading in Guadalajara's mayoral race, presents a well-funded and highly organized campaign, while Kumamoto is leading a mostly grassroots independent movement. But what 40-year-old Alfaro, and wiry 25-year-old Kumamato have in common is the goal of defeating the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, from its current grip of power in one of Mexico´s most important states.

Victory for either candidate would prove significant, given that the PRI and the conservative National Action Party, known by its Spanish acronym PAN, have taken turns governing Jalisco and its capital since 1929.

"I think in Guadalajara and the entire country people are fed up with the political system, the parties, and the way they govern," Alfaro told VICE News. "This election could be the breaking point in which we manage to achieve a non-traditional model of politics."

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