MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico City Mayor Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, an
                  icon to the nation's left, says he nearing a third run for the presidency,
                  according to an interview published Saturday.

                  "I am ready for the presidential candidacy," Cardenas was quoted as telling
                  the daily Reforma.

                  The declaration was no surprize. Cardenas is the dominant figure of his
                  Democratic Revolution Party and one of Mexico's most respected -- if not
                  always successful -- politicians.

                  The son of revered President Lazaro Cardenas, who served in the 1930s,
                  Cardenas lost a fraud-marred presidential election in 1988 and finished third
                  in 1994. In 1997, he became the first elected mayor of Mexico City in about
                  60 years.

                  Cardenas repeated his proposal that Mexico's opposition parties form an
                  alliance to topple the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which has ruled
                  Mexico for 60 years.

                  "I am thinking of a grand coalition which would go with single candidates not
                  only in the presidential election but also with single candidates for congress
                  and eventually local elections," he was quoted as saying.

                  That would apparently involve a nationwide series of primary elections
                  involving his own party and the center-right National Action Party, whose
                  leading candidate is Guanajuato Gov. Vicente Fox.

                  The two parties formed a few coalitions on state and local levels, but
                  profound philosophical differences and personal ambitions have so far
                  blocked broader alliances.

                  The 2000 election is shaping up as potentially historic.

                  Opposition parties have never seemed stronger, winning numerous
                  governorships in the past six years.

                  And the ruling party, known as the PRI, is struggling to find a way to
                  nominate a presidential candidate under more democratic methods.
                  President Ernesto Zedillo has promised to break with the tradition of
                  outgoing presidents imposing the party's candidate.

                  Meanwhile, Cardenas' party is to elect a new national president on Sunday.
                  All four candidates come from leftist parties which joined with defectors
                  from the PRI. Previous leaders of the party were all former PRI members.

                  Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.