(AFP) - Republican Representative Nikki Haley announced her candidacy for the US presidential elections in 2024, becoming the first prominent candidate to compete with Donald Trump.

"I am a presidential candidate," said the former US ambassador to the United Nations, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, in a video clip in which she addressed her supporters.

It had been expected for weeks that Nikki Haley, 51, would announce her candidacy for the 2024 presidential election.

"Even in our darkest days, we are so blessed to live in America," Hayley said in the video. But she considered that Democratic President Joe Biden and the “administration” in Washington had a “terrible” record.

On Wednesday, she promised her supporters a "special announcement" in Charleston, South Carolina, the state where she was governor.

In her letter, Haley called for a "new generation of leaders," criticizing Republicans in the recent election in which Donald Trump, 76, interfered.

Trump did not immediately respond to Haley's announcement.

Hayley is the daughter of an Indian immigrant couple, who grew up in a small town in South Carolina, before becoming governor of this state.