meeting to avoid the fractious threats facing the presidential election

Mexico City – The leadership of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s party is meeting on Sunday to try to turn the page on tensions that have arisen during the process of choosing a candidate for the 2024 presidential election and to defuse threats of fractures in that political power.

The process that allowed the capital’s former mayor Claudia Sheinbaum to become an official presidential candidate was marred by irregularities denounced by former president Marcelo Ebrard, one of the six contenders.

Morena’s leadership convened a national council in Mexico’s capital on Sunday to support Sheinbaum and discuss Ebrard’s case, where he is expected to announce to the country on Monday the political path he will follow after failing an internal consultation.

Although Ebrard was ruled out as an independent candidate, it remains unclear whether the 63-year-old politician will break with López Obrador’s party and run in another organization in the 2024 presidential election or accept the president’s invitations. Leaders should be in Morena.

Senator Xóchitl Gálvez, who is the presidential candidate of the opposition coalition Frente Amplio por México, said on Saturday that he “has good relations with Marcelo” but admitted that “he has to make his decision”.

It’s also unclear whether some pro-Government governors and congressmen who have supported Ephrat could break away from Morena, which would weaken that power in Congress.

López Obrador this week denied the risk of fractures in his movement, which he built in 2011 and has established himself as the biggest political force in Mexico by winning 22 governorships in the country’s 32 states and controlling Congress during his six-year term. .

However, political analyst and academic Ruben Aguilar told The Associated Press that while the pro-government movement has managed to minimize the cost of Ephrath’s grievances and consolidate an institutional image of unity, the possibility of short-term rifts has not been ruled out.

Aguilar, who was former President Vicente Fox’s spokesman, said there was a “merciless fight” between former fighters from traditional parties who joined the ruling party under the unfulfilled promise of some positions within Morena; Various regional groups that defend their devolution and departments that do not support Scheinbaum’s candidacy “see it as an imposition from the president.”

Tensions and divisions in Morena are expected to be more evident as the June 2, 2024 election approaches, when 20,000 elected positions, including 128 senators, 500 federal representatives, in addition to Mexico’s presidency will be up for vote. Governorships and Mayor of Mexico City, it is considered one of the jewels of Mexican politics.