Mexico’s foreign minister plans to step down to pursue presidential bid
Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said Tuesday he will resign his position next week to dedicate himself to seeking the nomination of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s party to be its presidential candidate in next year’s election.
Ebrard is among three leading aspirants for the nomination of López Obrador’s ruling Morena party.
For months, Ebrard has been juggling his foreign policy duties and pre-campaign activities. At an event in a Mexico City hotel Tuesday, surrounded by supporters, Ebrard said he will resign Monday “to dedicate myself fully with happiness and resolve to defend the plan headed by our president.”
The other leading contenders for the party’s nomination are Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum and Interior Minister Adán Augusto López.
Whomever Morena chooses as its candidate is expected to be the frontrunner in next year’s presidential election.
Sunday’s election for governor of the state of Mexico could spell the end of the long-dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party and further cement the dominancy of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena party.
The party advanced its national status Sunday, when its candidate won the governorship in the State of Mexico, the country’s most populous state.
López Obrador continues to enjoy high approval ratings more than four years into his six-year term.
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