Economics

Independent Candidate Zavala Quits Mexico’s President Race

  • Former first lady trailed major party candidates in polls
  • Resignation may potentially hurt front-runner Lopez Obrador

Margarita Zavala

Photographer: Mauricio Palos/Bloomberg
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Mexican independent presidential candidate Margarita Zavala is quitting the race ahead of the nation’s July 1 vote, a move that potentially boosts the chances for the major-party rivals to leftist front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Zavala announced her decision on Wednesday in an interview recorded with broadcaster Televisa and posted on the Twitter account of Foro TV. Zavala, a former first lady, left the National Action Party over a dispute with Ricardo Anaya, who became the party’s candidate and is running second, almost twenty points behind Lopez Obrador, based on Bloomberg’s poll tracker.