Mexico’s governing party’s big test is trying to hold together without its charismatic president

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s immensely powerful governing party may face its biggest test yet as it announces its candidates for the 2024 gubernatorial elections. The challenge isn’t coming from flagging opposition parties. Rather, the party of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has to prove it can hold together and prevent the desertion of candidates who aren’t picked. With the end of term for its charismatic founder, there are questions about whether the ideologically diverse Morena party may start falling apart. One candidate has already bolted from the party. By Friday night, Morena had not announced its gubernatorial candidates as expected, and it still wasn’t clear who might leave the party.