MEXICO CITY, March 25 (Reuters) - Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Wednesday her country will continue supporting former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet's candidacy for U.N. secretary-general, after Chile withdrew its support the day before.
Sheinbaum said she would soon speak by phone with the two-time president, whose nomination was put forward by the governments of Mexico, Brazil and Chile prior to the swearing in of right-wing President Jose Antonio Kast earlier this month.
"We believe that Bachelet is the ideal person to lead the United Nations, and we will continue to support her," Sheinbaum told a daily news conference.
Bachelet said on Tuesday she would continue her candidacy with support from Mexico and Brazil, which has yet to comment on Chile's decision.
"She is a woman who seeks peace in the world, who has a vision for building rights, for the peaceful resolution of conflicts, for rebuilding the U.N. as an organization dedicated to resolving international conflicts, and establishing a bill of rights for all the people in the world," Sheinbaum said.
Chile said on Tuesday it would abstain from supporting any candidate after it withdrew its support for Bachelet, whose candidacy Kast said his predecessor, left-wing Gabriel Boric, should not have supported.
Bachelet was Chile's first female head of state and is now among the main candidates to succeed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
She served as U.N. high commissioner for human rights from 2018-22 and executive director of U.N. Women from 2010-13.
(Reporting by Sarah Morland and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Editing by Iñigo Alexander and Daina Beth Solomon)
