By Diego Oré
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s ruling Morena get together on Sunday elected Inside Secretary Luisa Maria Alcalde as its new chief and awarded the son of outgoing Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador a high-ranking place.
Alcalde, a 37-year-old lawyer who hails from a storied Mexican political household, will likely be tasked with serving to consolidate disparate wings of the Morena motion with out its founder, Lopez Obrador, who has been a towering determine in Mexican politics lately.
Since Lopez Obrador based Morena in 2011, the get together has soared in recognition to grow to be an electoral juggernaut, drawing comparisons with the Institutional Revolutionary Occasion (PRI) that dominated Mexico for seven many years earlier than the return of democracy in 2000. Morena now governs 23 of the nation’s 32 states and has giant majorities in each chambers of Congress.
Alcalde, a staunch Lopez Obrador ally, was a congresswoman from 2013 to 2015, Labor Secretary from 2018 to June 2023, and has since held the Inside portfolio, thought-about one of the vital necessary political posts within the nation.
“I am not going to fail you,” Alcalde instructed Morena supporters after being elected.
Mexico’s President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum mentioned on X afterwards that she was satisfied “Morena’s new administration will do an awesome job.”
“They’ll know learn how to information our motion with rules and unity. Many congratulations. We proceed making historical past,” Sheinbaum added.
Lopez Obrador’s son, Andres Manuel Lopez Beltran, who had lengthy been reputed to wield affect within the get together, was elected because the Secretary of Group.
Though López Obrador separated himself from the management of Morena in 2017 to run for the presidency of Mexico within the 2018 elections, analysts preserve that the get together has all the time been subordinate to the ruler.
The problem for Morena will likely be to manage and train “energy by itself with out the shelter and steerage of the management of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, whose star nonetheless shines however is on the best way to extinction,” mentioned political analyst Rene Delgado.
Alcalde was one of many founders of Morena since its formation as a civil affiliation in 2011, when she served as youth coordinator. Her mom and senior Morena politician, Bertha Luján, has been a long-time Lopez Obrador ally, whereas her sister Bertha Alcalde has additionally held numerous public positions.
(Writing by Drazen Jorgic; modifying by Diane Craft)
