Mexican President Vicente Fox Thursday appointed his labour minister, Carlos Abascal, to be Mexico's interior minister, dpa reported. Abascal takes over from Santiago Creel, who stepped down Wednesday to seek the nomination of the National Action Party (PAN) to run for the presidency in 2006. The appointment of Abascal, a conservative businessman, was questioned by opposition leaders who described him as too far to the right on the political spectrum. Fox entrusted Abascal with the task of ensuring clean and impartial elections in 2006. --SP 2357 Local Time 2057 GMT