New deadline set for independent candidates

According to a statement released by the National Electoral Institute (INE) , the deadlines for the submission of the letter of intent of independent candidates interested in participating in the Federal Electoral Process 2017-2018 have been extended to compensate for the suspension of activities following the earthquake on September 19.

The new deadlines for all interested citizens to submit their letters of intent are as follows:

Senator candidacies – October 15

Federal deputy candidacies – October 10

President of Mexican Republic candidacies – October 14

For the first time in Mexican history, citizens not affiliated with any political parties will be eligible to run for president in the upcoming 2018 General Elections, and so far, twelve candidate nominees have registered before the INE, all ranging from several diverse backgrounds: journalist Pedro Ferriz de Con, businessmen Carlos Mimenza and Alfonso Trujano Sánchez, politicians Wendolin Gutiérrez Mejía and Armando Ríos Piter, the current governor of Nuevo León, Jaime “ El Bronco ” Rodríguez Calderón, an indigenous woman with the Zapatista Army of National Liberation ( EZLN ) and the Council for Indigenous Government, María de Jesús “Marichuy” Patricio Martínez, together with fellow citizens Héctor Luis Javalois Loranca, Francisco Gerardo Becerra, Alfredo Pérez Mata, Édgar Ulises Portillo Figueroa, and Roque López Mendoza.

Yet, submitting the letter of intention before the INE is just the first stepping stone in the political contest. In addition to incorporating a civil association and opening a bank account, their next challenge for all interested in running for President is to gather the signatures of 1% of the electoral roll – equivalent to 866 thousand 593 hundred signatures – through the INE's application “Apoyo Ciuddano” (Citizen's Support), throughout, at least, 17 states of the Mexican Republic.

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