MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s finance minister, José Antonio Meade, stepped down Monday and announced his intention to run for president in next year’s election, assuming the coveted candidacy of the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party.

In recent months, speculation has been rampant about whom the president, Enrique Peña Nieto, and his party would select as the party’s candidate.

The president, who is limited to a single term of six years, has received some of the lowest approval ratings in the country’s recent history amid corruption scandals, record-breaking violence and a sluggish economy — making the selection of a candidate to succeed him a delicate matter.

Mr. Meade, 48, holds a doctorate in economics from Yale and is seen as a capable technocrat with a wide range of experience. He has held several cabinet-level positions in rival administrations, making him an attractive selection for the governing party, also known as the PRI, which wanted someone with a clean record.