Santiago Creel

His campaign describes his background as that of a lawyer, father, and husband, as well as of a Party loyalist.[1] Descendant of the Creel-Terrazas family, son of René Creel Luján, one of the founders of the National Action Party,[2] Santiago Creel has extensive connections within the PAN. In 2008 he admitted that he is the father of actress Edith González's daughter, Constanza.

Creel received a bachelor's degree in Law from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and subsequently did graduate work at Georgetown University and earned a master's degree at the University of Michigan.[3]

His career highlights include running for Head of Government of the Federal District in 2000 (a race he narrowly lost to Andrés Manuel López Obrador). He was later appointed to the cabinet by President Vicente Fox to serve as Secretary of the Interior, a position he held from December 2000 to June 2005.

On June 1, 2005, Creel presented Fox with his resignation in order to seek his party's candidacy for the 2006 presidential election. Creel's main contender for the PAN's candidacy was Felipe Calderón who won the primary elections and went on to become President of Mexico.

In 2006 Santiago Creel won a proportional representation seat in the Senate to serve during the 60th and 61st Legislatures (2006–2012) and led the PAN Senate delegation until June 2008.

Santiago Creel decided to run for the PAN's Presidential Nomination for the 2012 and initially led polls ahead of the other candidates on the basis of his strong name recognition. He has been falling behind a rising Vazquez Mota in the later half of 2011 and also faces stiff competition from Ernesto Cordero. He has identified himself as more independent from the current administration than either Josefina Vazquez Mota or Ernesto Cordero and he has demanded noninterference and a clean result,[4] with confidence in a fair result not to be overturned, but his support not being a blank check, but rather assuming the absence of serious issues.[5] Should he lose, he has indicated likely support for the winning candidate and joining in supporting the candidate and would welcome other candidates to his campaign should he win.

Creel was one of seven PAN representatives elected by the voters of Mexico City to sit on the Constituent Assembly of Mexico City, which will convene on September 15, 2016.[6]