MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mexico ruling party prepares for presidential election

Santiago Creel, a former Interior minister in the administration of Mexican President Vicente Fox, officially registered to run for the nomination of the ruling National Action Party (PAN).

Creel, who registered for the PAN primary over the week end said there was no "favouritism" towards him from the Fox administration, challenging statements by other presidential hopefuls in the race for the party's standard bearer in the July 2006 presidential election.

Last week, former Cabinet member Francisco Barrio said he was dropping out of the race for the PAN's presidential nomination, claiming that the deck was being stacked in favour of Mr. Creel.

Mr. Barrio claimed both government agencies and PAN officials were intensifying their efforts to boost the candidacy of Creel, widely seen as Fox's preferred successor.

Mr. Barrio, a former governor of the northern state of Chihuahua, also criticized "the disparities there have been in access to resources and the media" among the PAN members seeking to succeed president Fox.

"I respect the decision of my friend Barrio, but I don't agree with him and don't have any other comments about what he said, because I want to contribute to the unity of the PAN in an effort to hold on to power in 2006" Mr. Creel told reporters.

The former Interior minister Creel also said PAN process for selecting a candidate was "legitimate" and denied that he engaged in improper fund raising for his campaign.

According to the polls, Mr. Creel is leading fellow PAN members Felipe Calderon, Alberto Cardenas and Hugo Diaz in the race to win the party's nomination.

However public opinion polls show the former Cabinet member trailing Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador from the Party of the Democratic Revolution, and Roberto Madrazo, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party.