Independent candidate leads in Mexican exit polls

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s first independent gubernatorial candidate was leading in exit polls as voting closed Sunday after midterm elections marred by sporadic outbursts of violence.

In voting seen as a litmus test for President Enrique Pena Nieto, the candidate of his Institutional Revolutionary Party appeared to be losing in the key northern state of Nuevo Leon, where independent Jaime Rodriguez, known as “El Bronco,” had at least a 6-point lead in exit polls conducted by the television network TV Azteca and other media.

The margin of error in the Azteca survey, however, was 3.8 percentage points. The ruling party candidate, Ivonne Alvarez, acknowledged the vote was close.

Rodriguez’s popularity in a state that is home to the business hub of Monterrey was attributed to voters’ disgust with all political parties, each with its own corruption scandals.

“Nuevo Leon has shown that through the ballot box, you can change things,” Rodriguez said in addressing his supporters, adding that he will wait for the official count to confirm his victory. “We’re going to give the parties six years of vacation.”

This was the first election in the country allowing unaffiliated candidates, thanks to an electoral reform last year.

Rodriguez earned his nickname after he survived two assassination attempts when he was mayor of a Monterrey suburb that left his car bullet-ridden. He said the attacks were from a drug cartel.

Protesters burned ballot boxes in several restive states of southern Mexico, attempting to disrupt elections, but officials said voting proceeded satisfactorily.

Soldiers and federal police guarded polling stations where violence and calls for boycotts threatened to mar elections for 500 seats in the lower house of Congress, nine of 31 governorships and hundreds of local officials.