Why does a traditional healer matter in Mexico's presidential election?

An indigenous woman backed by Mexico's rebel Zapatista movement registered on Saturday to run as an independent candidate in next year's presidential election, adding to a growing list of hopefuls bucking established political parties.

Who is Patricio Martinez?

Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez

Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez is the spokeswoman for the National Indigenous Congress, the political arm of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), and in May was picked to be the group's 2018 presidential candidate.

The 53-year-old is a traditional healer and native Nahua speaker, originally from the central Mexican state of Jalisco.

The Zapatista movement

The EZLN has been fighting for indigenous people’s rights since 1994. Patricio Martinez does not belong to the EZLN, but she draws great inspiration from them.

Under-representation

Indigenous communities in Mexico have constantly complained about capitalism slavery, claiming that their lands are destroyed to make way for mining, tourism and infrastructure projects.

According to a government census report in March, around 25 million Mexicans – 21.5 percent of the country's population – identify as indigenous. But since independence, the country has had only one indigenous president, Benito Juarez, who took office in 1858. Only a handful of indigenous representatives are members of the current congress.

The Mexican government says it has invested a record 21.5 billion pesos in infrastructure for indigenous communities.

After registration

Patricio Martinez is not on the ballot yet. According to electoral rules, an independent presidential aspirant, a candidate not running in one of Mexico’s major political parties, must get the signature of one percent of the electorate, representing at least 17 regions of 31 Mexican states, to be an official candidate.

Patricio Martinez has four months to gather 866,593 signatures.

If she is able to get the independent nomination, Martinez will be the first indigenous woman to have ever ran for the Mexican presidency.

Who else is running?

Already, more than 10 first-time independent candidates have registered to run. Three of those contenders failed to meet initial requirements, according to the National Electoral Institute (INE).

The front-runner in most polls is Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who leads the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party. Obrador, 63, is one of the best-known politicians in Mexico, having spent years relentlessly attacking other parties for corruption.

Andres Manuel Lopez

He is a former Mexico City mayor and two-time presidential runner-up. But he is also a divisive figure, feared by the country’s business elite.

The ruling centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) of President Enrique Pena Nieto, who is barred by law from seeking a second term, has yet to pick a candidate.

(AP& REUTERS)