2 Candidates, Including Leader, Quit Mexico Presidential Race

The candidate considered to be President Ernesto Zedillo’s favorite in the 2000 presidential election got a major boost Wednesday when two potential rivals--one of whom leads him in many polls--said they would not run in the primary for the governing party’s nomination.

The announcements by Veracruz Gov. Miguel Aleman and Social Development Secretary Esteban Moctezuma came two days after party leaders voted to hold their first presidential primary, apparently ending a 70-year-old tradition in which outgoing presidents named their successors.

The Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, has held Mexico’s presidency since 1929.

The announcements also come only a day after Interior Secretary Francisco Labastida formally announced his candidacy--one that most analysts here say is backed by Zedillo.

Moctezuma is considered close to Zedillo and was interior secretary at the start of Zedillo’s term. He had trailed in polls and said he had little money for a campaign.

But Aleman had led Labastida in many polls, has a sizable family fortune, strong business contacts and name recognition: his father was president of Mexico.

Aleman said he had decided to remain in the governor’s post he had taken only last December.

That leaves two other major challengers to Labastida for the Nov. 7 primary: Tabasco state Gov. Roberto Madrazo and former Puebla Gov. Manuel Bartlett, who is also a former interior secretary.