The 25-year-old’s surprising, internet-powered grassroots victory in the Jalisco state legislature could be a model for many aspiring politicians

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

With just a few thousand dollars and an internet-powered grassroots campaign, a 25-year-old Mexican of Japanese ancestry tapped into discontent with corruption-plagued political parties to make history in midterm elections.



Pedro Kumamoto, nicknamed “Kuma”, is among a handful of independents who were elected in Sunday’s vote, the first that allowed candidates without parties to run for office since a 2014 reform.

With a $14,000 war chest financed with small donations he limited to no more than $450, Kumamoto brushed aside rivals from well-financed and entrenched political parties to win a seat in the Jalisco state legislature in western Mexico.

His supporters also offered sunscreen, water bottles and apples for the gruelling door-to-door campaign in his hometown of Zapopan, a suburb of Guadalajara, Mexico’s second biggest city.

“It’s not about me. It’s not a candidacy based on personality,” the broad-smiling Kumamoto, who favours casual clothes such as jeans and untucked shirts, told AFP in a telephone interview.

“It’s a candidacy that happened through social movements related to outrage with traditional politics, with political parties that haven’t worked correctly,” said Kumamoto, who won 39% of the vote.

At least four other independents won in the elections for the 500-member lower chamber of Congress, hundreds of state legislatures and municipalities, and nine governorships.

Their victories were seen as a protest vote against the country’s old parties in a country where a recent poll showed that 91% of people believe politicians are crooked.

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The biggest star of this Mexican mini-revolution was Jaime “El Bronco” Rodríguez, who became the first independent to win a governorship in the industrial northern state of Nuevo León.

Another prominent independent, Manuel Clouthier, who won a federal Congress seat in Sinaloa, was once a member of the National Action Party and his father ran for president under the same banner.

What sets Kumamoto apart from the other independents is that he was never a member of a political party. Analysts say his surprising victory could be a model for aspiring independents.

For political analyst José Antonio Crespo, Kumamoto’s victory is “much more significant” than that of Rodríguez or Clouthier.

“It’s surprising how he was able to defeat the parties with few resources and without previous political support,” said Crespo of the Economics Research and Teaching Centre. “Many will study the Kumamoto case to try to reproduce it.”

A culture management graduate from a Jesuit university, Kumamoto is a member of Wikipolitica, a network of young volunteers who promote civic activism and press for government transparency.

By contrast, Rodríguez was already a well-known former mayor who was part of President Enrique Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) for three decades before quitting last year.

Kumamoto surged out of nowhere to win in Jalisco. He only received $1,100 in public financing and raised another $13,000 through private donations, with an army of young campaign workers to help him.

“Kuma speaks in an incredibly beautiful manner that inspires,” said Alejandra Parra, his 24-year-old campaign coordinator.

Kumamoto built an elaborate website, drew around 20,000 followers on Twitter and was advised by intellectuals and academics.

While he chose an alternative route to navigate Mexican politics, his Japanese ancestor also took his own, odd road to Mexico after the first world war.

“My great-grandfather was promised he would go to San Francisco [California], but his boat arrived in [the southernmost Mexican state of] Chiapas” and he married an indigenous Tzotzil woman, he said.

“The compass failed a bit,” said Kumamoto, who describes himself as “very Mexican”.