'El Bronco' Rides to Victory in State Elections While Pena Nieto Clings to National Power Harriet Alexander - The Telegraph
go to original June 8, 2015

Exit poll results showed that independent Jaime Rodriguez has won a resounding victory for governor of rich northern Nuevo Leon state. He is the first independent to win such a big prize. Adam Raney reports from Mexico. (Al Jazeera English)

A stetson-wearing rancher has become the first independent governor of a Mexican state, following midterm elections on Sunday which saw President Enrique Pena Nieto retain his grip on power.

"El Bronco" – or the rebellious one, as Jaime Rodriguez is known - was elected as governor of Nuevo Leon, one of Mexico's wealthiest states, on the border with Texas.

"Nuevo Leon will be the beginning of a second Mexican revolution," said the 57-year-old, who campaigned as an independent following a change to the election laws this year, permitting candidates outside the main parties.

An estimated 58 million Mexicans went to the polls on Sunday to elect all 500 members of the lower chamber of Congress, around 900 mayors and nine of 31 state governors.

Mr Pena's party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), retained its majority in Congress – despite his falling approval ratings and violent election day protests in several states. Combined with its allies, the PRI could win between 246 and 263 seats in the 500-member lower chamber of Congress, compared to 251 today, according to estimates by the National Electoral Institute.

But all eyes were on Nuevo Leon, where "El Bronco" had headed up a campaign that he encapsulated with the slogan: "One dead son, one kidnapped two-year-old daughter and 2,800 bullet holes in my truck".

Read the rest at The Telegraph

Related: Mexico's Midterm Elections Results See Ruling Party Lead, First Independent Wins (Associated Press)

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