THE split was years in the making. On October 6th Margarita Zavala (pictured),the former first lady of Mexico, resigned from her conservative National Action Party (PAN). She had long hoped to be its nominee for president in elections to be held next July. But the head of the party, or Ricardo Anaya,has formed a “Citizens’ Front alliance with two smaller parties, and looks set to win the group's nomination himself. So Ms Zavala has done something that was never possible before in a Mexican presidential race. She registered as an independent candidate. She was not alone: 85 other independent aspirants had signed up by the deadline on October 14th.
The contest to succeed President Enrique Peña Nieto is the fourth since Mexico’s democratic era began in 2000. But it will be the first presidential race since the country began allowing candidates to seek office without the backing of a political party. That is the result of a binding ruling by the Inter-American Court of...
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Source: economist.com