Beginning election campaign
Because of upcoming presidential election: Mexico’s foreign minister and mayor of Mexico City resign resign
Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard and the Mayor of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum
© Fernando Llano/ / Picture Alliance
On the same day, the mayor of Mexico City and the country’s foreign minister resigned. They want to prepare for their presidential candidacy.
A year before the presidential election in Mexico, the foreign minister and the mayor of Mexico City have announced their resignations in order to be able to concentrate on the lead candidate of the ruling Morena party. He wants to “devote himself to another very important task starting today,” said Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard on Monday. Shortly before, Claudia Sheinbaum announced her resignation, saying she wanted to “become the first woman in Mexican history to determine the fate of the nation.”
The mayor of Mexico City is leaving office on Friday. 60-year-old Sheinbaum, who has Bulgarian and Lithuanian roots, and 63-year-old Ebrard want to become the top candidate of the ruling Morena party and succeed President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Acting Minister of the Interior Adan Augusto Lopez also wants to run in the party’s internal primaries, which are to be held from the end of August to the beginning of September. The presidential election is scheduled for June next year.
The start of the presidential election in Mexico
Sheinbaum has been the mayor of the Mexican capital since 2018. If she wins the election, she would become the first woman to lead the second largest economy in Latin America after Brazil.
Of the internal party contenders for a presidential nomination, Sheinbaum is closest to incumbent López Obrador. It is considered likely that the left-leaning Morena party will be the head of state for another six years. According to polls, it doesn’t matter who becomes the top candidate. Mexico’s presidents can only serve for one term.