Mexico president backs ruling party candidate after selection process row

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum attend an event to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the Consummation of the Independence of Mexico outside the National Palace, in Mexico City, Mexico, September 27, 2021. REUTERS/Henry Romero/File photo

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico's president on Thursday vigorously backed his party's selection of former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum as its candidate to succeed him in 2024, dismissing objections about the process by her main rival, who threatened to quit the party.

The ruling National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) declared Sheinbaum the winning candidate a few hours after her closest competitor, ex-foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard, said the primary contest had been irredeemably tainted by irregularities.