'El Bronco' Becomes Mexico's First Independent Governor

In the border state of Nuevo Leon in Mexico, the independent candidate Jaime Rodriguez – campaigning as “El Bronco” – won 48% of the vote in a gubernatorial election, despite a shoestring campaign and the overt opposition of most local media outlets. Candidates from the PRI and the PAN each won less than half of that. Enrique Alfaro, another maverick candidate attached to a tiny new party called Citizen Movement, obtained a similarly overwhelming triumph in the election for mayor of Guadalajara, the country’s second largest city. While the victory of independent candidates has the potential to shake up future elections, including the 2018 presidential poll, Sunday’s elections also contained more radical and immediate reminders to President Enrique Peña Nieto that the second half of his six-year term is unlikely to be comfortable.