Mexico interior minister steps down to vie for presidential bid -president

Mexican Interior Minister Adan Augusto Lopez has resigned from his post to compete for the ruling party's candidacy in next year's presidential elections, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Friday. Lopez Obrador said in a regular news conference that the interior minister had resigned the day before.

Mexican Interior Minister Adan Augusto Lopez has resigned from his post to compete for the ruling party's candidacy in next year's presidential elections, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Friday.

Lopez Obrador said in a regular news conference that the interior minister had resigned the day before. He did not immediately name a replacement. Lopez's resignation follows that of former Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, who stepped down earlier this week, and Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, whose last day in office is Friday.

The move creates an increasingly competitive field for the leftist National Regeneration Movement's (MORENA) candidacy. Opinion polls so far have tended to give Sheinbaum - who would be Mexico's first female president if she won - a slight edge.

MORENA, which will announce its candidate in September after a party poll, is heavily favored to win the 2024 election.