Mexico finance minister resigns, clearing way for presidential run
Mexico City, (MILLAT ONLINE):Mexican finance minister Jose Antonio Meade resigned, clearing the way for a potential presidential run that many pundits are calling the ruling party’s only chance to hang onto power.
Meade, who is being touted as a top contender for the July 2018 election, will be replaced by Jose Gonzalez Anaya, who heads state oil company Pemex, President Enrique Pena Nieto said in a national address.
His departure comes as speculation hits fever pitch over who will be the presidential candidate for the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), whose popularity is in the doldrums as Pena Nieto approaches the end of his term.
Meade is not a member of the PRI, having previously served as a minister under its top rival, the National Action Party (PAN).
But many Mexicans both in and outside the ruling party see him as the best hope to defeat the current front-runner in the presidential race, the leftist firebrand Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
The PRI changed party rules in August to allow non-members to stand as its presidential nominee, clearing the way for Meade to run.
The party has yet to officially name its candidate, traditionally chosen in an opaque back-room process.