MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Maverick Mexican politician Senator Xochitl Galvez on Tuesday said she was entering the race for the presidency in 2024 as a struggling opposition tries to claw back the initiative from President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s ruling party.
Galvez, 60, made her announcement in a video posted on Twitter standing outside Lopez Obrador’s office in Mexico City, injecting a dash of unpredictability to a burgeoning field of hopefuls for the election next June.
“I am going to be the next president of Mexico,” she said.
Galvez, a feisty champion of indigenous peoples’ rights with a knack for generating publicity, is seen by supporters as one of the few opposition leaders who cuts across class divides and – like the president – connects well with poorer Mexicans.
Lopez Obrador recently described her as “tenacious.”
Galvez contrasts her humble origins to those of the contenders of Lopez Obrador’s leftist National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), whom she says grew up with more privilege.
Bolstered by Lopez Obrador’s robust personal approval ratings, MORENA is heavily favored to win the 2024 election, and many political insiders believe its candidate could end up being ex-Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum.
Galvez, a trained computer engineer elected to the Senate for the center-right National Action Party, could help counter the appeal of a female MORENA candidate, analysts say.
MORENA is expected to announce its nominee on Sept. 6, while an alliance of opposition parties said on Monday it planned to reveal its candidate on Sept. 3.
In April, Galvez chained herself to a desk reserved for the head of the Senate in a bid to stop MORENA holding a congressional session that sought to circumvent the opposition.
Earlier this month, she created a media stir as she stood knocking on the doors of the presidential palace in protest at being denied entry to Lopez Obrador’s morning press conference, where she was planning to criticize him.
(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Leslie Adler)
