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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2005 
Mexico City's Ex-Mayor Now De Facto Presidential Candidate
 Reuters
| | Lopez Obrador holds a firm 10-point lead over his nearest rival as campaigning heats up, recent polls have shown. |
Mexico City – Mexico City's former mayor, leading in polls to become president in elections next year, became the de facto candidate Sunday for the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD.
The PRD was to vote for a candidate but as Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a former Indian rights activist, was the sole contender he has automatically become the PRD's candidate, without an election taking place.
"The time limit ended on Sept. 18 and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was the only registered candidate," PRD leader Javier Hidalgo told Reuters.
The PRD is the first major Mexican party to select their contender for the key elections.
Party leaders will meet Lopez Obrador in late November, Hidalgo said, when he is expected to be named the official PRD candidate. "It's a formality," Hidalgo said.
Lopez Obrador holds a firm 10-point lead over his nearest rival as campaigning heats up, recent polls have shown.
Trailing him is Santiago Creel of the ruling National Action Party. Creel is a former interior minister and an ally of conservative President Vicente Fox. Mexican presidents are banned from bidding for a second term.
But Creel is facing tough competition to win the nomination of his party. Former Energy Minister Felipe Calderon is leading the race to be the pro-business party's presidential candidate after the first leg of a three-round internal election.
Also trailing Lopez Obrador is Roberto Madrazo of the main opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruled Mexico for 71 years before being ousted by Fox at the last elections in 2000.
An austere leftist who owns a modest Nissan car, Lopez Obrador stepped down as Mexico City mayor in July and is currently touring the country to build support in towns and cities where the PRD has only a weak presence.
On Sunday, Lopez Obrador was in the northern Sinaloa state on his campaign trail. The PRD is strongest in Mexico City and in a handful of center and southern states, but weak in the north of the country.
He was a hugely popular mayor for giving pensions to old people and for building major roads and bridges across the capital in a bid to alleviate traffic problems in one of the world's largest cities.
But many local businessmen and foreign investors fear he could risk Mexico's economic stability if he embarks on heavy nationwide spending plans if elected president. |
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