Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Monday, April 18, 2016

Candidates without parties?

Political parties have controlled governments, candidates, and followers throughout Mexico's republic. Changes have come legally, will that remake political reality?

It’s Time to Shine for Mexico’s Independent Candidates

Mexican citizens are tired of politicians, and even more tired of the political parties that fund them…

Whether right or left, old or new, parties’ unfulfilled campaign promises, lack of clear and consistent ideology, demagoguery, populism and opportunism give Mexicans plenty of reasons to distrust these institutions.

This is not a new problem, and it’s not one that looks to be going away any time soon. It was only in 2006 — when former Foreign Affairs Secretary Jorge Castañeda tried to run for president as an independent — that the Supreme Court upheld a ruling stating only official party candidates were eligible to run for election.

Thankfully, electoral reform was approved in 2012, allowing a candidate to run on an independent ticket…

And even so, the law still makes it very difficult for candidates to run outside of the party system. Of the 511 independent candidates running in 2015, only 123 were able to register, and only six were able to win their respective elections.

"El Bronco"

Although the numbers do not seem very encouraging, the reality is that independent candidates have marked a boom on Mexico’s political history. Such is the case of Jaime Rodríguez “El Bronco” in Nuevo Leon and Pedro Kumamoto in Jalisco, who were two figures of great impact following last year’s electoral process…

After these booms and electoral reforms, 2016 looks to be a crucial year for Mexico’s independent candidates. So far, there are 11 candidates who have openly expressed their intentions to occupy governorships through the independent route…

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