In June Elections, Will 'El Bronco' Factor Drive Weary Mexican Voters to the Polls? Whitney Eulich - The Christian Science Monitor
go to original May 29, 2015

Jaime Rodríguez Calderón eats lunch while campaigning in central Monterrey. Mr. Rodriguez is running as the first independent candidate in Monterrey's June 7 gubernatorial elections, hoping to unseat the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) which has led this northern border state for 80 of the past 86 years. (Whitney Eulich/The Christian Science Monitor)

The gubernatorial race here in the northern state of Nuevo León is heating up, with the first non-affiliated candidate, Jaime Rodríguez Calderón, aka “El Bronco,” posing a formidable threat to the incumbent Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Mr. Rodríguez is polling first or second in a handful of surveys, underscoring widespread frustration with government corruption and leadership. Some hope the presence of independent candidates can help boost voter turnout – and possibly even restore some faith in politics.

Rodríguez, in an interview in his car en route to his fourth campaign event of the day, says he has a sense of mission about his candidacy. “I want to wake up the country,”  he says. “Nuevo León can set an example for Mexico by beating party politics.”

At campaign headquarters, campaign worker Pablo Livas points at the floor-to-ceiling windows that he calls a symbol of the transparency he hopes independents can bring to the job. “I wouldn’t support El Bronco if he weren’t independent,” says Livas. In the past, he voted for the PRI; his father was a PRI governor here in the 1960s.

This is the first time in Mexico’s history that candidates in every state have been able to run for office – from governor and mayor to federal and state legislatures – without party backing. Some, like El Bronco, have a long history in politics, while others are new faces. Either way, it hasn’t been easy: Independents were required to gather thousands of signatures in order to run; campaign financing is severely limited; and they don’t have the same access to TV and radio spots as party contenders.

Read the rest at The Christian Science Monitor

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