Mexico’s governing party retains power after mid-term election

[Judi Lynn]

2. Mexican party renegade hits government with state victory

World | Mon Jun 8, 2015 2:38pm IST

Mexican party renegade hits government with state victory

MONTERREY, Mexico | By Gabriela Lopez


A blunt, outspoken rancher with a penchant for cowboy hats dealt a blow to the Mexican government on Sunday, inflicting a heavy defeat on the ruling party to become the first independent candidate to win a state governorship in modern Mexico.

Jaime Rodriguez, a former member of President Enrique Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), won the powerful northern state of Nuevo Leon after a campaign that capitalized on widespread disaffection with the established parties.

Known as "El Bronco" (the gruff one), Rodriguez came from the back of the field to win the six-year term, beating out the PRI and the center-right National Action Party (PAN), which have traditionally run the state centered on the city of Monterrey.

"It's great that we're going to give the two parties that were governing a six-year vacation," Rodriguez, a former PRI mayor who left the party last year, told supporters. "Nuevo Leon will be the start of this second Mexican revolution."

More:
http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/06/08/mexico-election-independent-idINKBN0OO0R720150608?rpc=401