When Mexico’s voters recently threw out their political establishment in favour of a veteran leftist, they gave him the chance to try a new approach to fixing the country’s dire problems of crime and insecurity. He’s got plenty of ideas, and the electorate is still on his side. But, as Patricio Estévez-Soto explains, the new president’s turn away from punitive policing and towards radical social policy risks putting all his eggs in one basket.

Nigeria heads to the polls next year. But there are widespread concerns about vote buying, as well as the deployment of the police and military to intimidate opposition candidates and their supporters. Oludayo Tade writes that these tactics were apparent during the recent Ekiti state poll, which was a big win for the ruling All Progressives Congress.