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| EFE |
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley warned on Tuesday that she has no intention of withdrawing from her party's primaries despite pressure from former President Donald Trump's circle.
Trump and Haley are scheduled to be in South Carolina on Saturday, the state where Haley served as governor. However, polls give her little more than 30%, far behind the former president.
So far, Trump leads the Republican primaries and has garnered 63 delegates from Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada, compared to Haley's 17.
"I refuse to drop out. South Carolina will vote on Saturday. But on Sunday, I will continue to run for president. I am not going anywhere," Haley said in a live broadcast on major television channels in the country, where many expected her to announce her withdrawal from the campaign.
"People have the right to have their voices heard. And they deserve a real choice, not Soviet-style elections where there is only one candidate and he gets 99% of the votes," she added.
After the South Carolina primaries, the Republican contest heads to the significant Super Tuesday on March 5, where about 15 states, including California and Texas, the largest in the country, are set to vote.
After Super Tuesday, nearly half of the delegates that will nominate the presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention in July will have been distributed. If Trump continues to dominate the race, he could effectively secure the primaries by that date.