Mexican former first lady Margarita Zavala says she will try to collect more than 866,000 signatures to run as an independent candidate for president next year.
Zavala is the wife of ex-President Felipe Calderon, who governed from 2006 to 2012. She has formally registered her candidacy and will need to collect the signatures in just over half of Mexico’s states by Feb. 12.
Zavala said Thursday that she faces a difficult path but is putting herself “in the hands of the citizens.”
The former first lady resigned last week from the conservative National Action Party, calling its leadership anti-democratic.
Nearly two dozen people have expressed interest in independent candidacies. The election is scheduled for July 1, 2018.
FILE – In this April 14, 2012 file photo, Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon and his wife, first lady Margarita Zavala arrive for the opening ceremony of the sixth Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia. Zavala announced Friday, Oct. 6, 2017, she is resigning from the conservative National Action Party, known as the PAN. She had announced her intention to run for the party’s presidential nomination, but found herself in open conflict with party leader Ricardo Anaya, who also wants the nomination. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)