MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -After Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard's announcement he will resign to compete for the presidential nomination of the ruling party, other contenders may soon follow suit, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday.

Lopez Obrador did not immediately name a replacement for the foreign minister, who said he will leave his post next Monday to focus on his campaign bid to clinch the presidential nomination for the leftist National Regeneration Movement (MORENA).

"I have time to think about who can replace him," Lopez Obrador told a regular news conference.

The president said it was possible that other contenders would step down in the coming days.

MORENA is due to hold a party board meeting on Sunday to set out rules for the internal contest.

Lopez Obrador said that if the party decided the contenders must resign to compete, Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum and Interior Minister Adan Augusto Lopez, two other leading contenders for the nomination, would have to do so.

Recent polling has tended to give Sheinbaum a slight edge over Ebrard in the race to capture the nomination. MORENA is strongly favored to win the 2024 election, polls show.

(Reporting by Dave Graham and Stefanie Eschenbacher in Mexico CityEditing by Matthew Lewis)