Mexico's Enrique Pena Nieto 'wins presidential poll'

2 July 2012 Last updated at 00:04 ET

Mexico's Enrique Pena Nieto 'wins presidential poll'

People in Mexico City talk about what they want for their country's future

Opposition candidate Enrique Pena Nieta is set to become Mexico's next president, exit polls suggest.

Mr Pena Nieto secured about 40% of the vote, the polls say, comfortably beating his main rivals.

A win for the 45-year-old former governor of Mexico state would see the return to power of the PRI party, which ran Mexico for more than seven decades.

Thousands of police were on duty for the election, amid fears of intimidation from drug gangs.

Mexicans were also electing a new congress and some state governors.

'New face'

Celebrations at the headquarters of the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) started after the polls closed.

Party president Joaquin Coldwell said all the polls "irreversibly" showed Mr Pena Nieto would win the poll, which was dominated by the economy and the war on drugs.

Mr Pena Nieto has been presented as the new face of the PRI, a break with the party's long and at times murky past. The party held on to power for 71 years until it was defeated in 2000.

Mr Pena Nieto built his reputation on the "pledges" he set out for his governorship in Mexico state, focusing on public works and improvement of infrastructure.

The main contenders: Pena Nieto (left), Vazquez Mota (centre) and Lopez Obrador (right)
"My priority will be to battle poverty in our country at its roots," the telegenic candidate said during his final campaign rally several days ago.

The official announcement is still to be made, but few now expect any other outcome, the BBC's Will Grant in Mexico City reports.

Josefina Vazquez Mota, the candidate of the governing PAN party, has already accepted defeat.

Meanwhile, exit polls put leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in second place with about 30% of the vote.

Mr Lopez Obrador, who was the runner-up in the 2006 election, has not made a statement yet. In 2006, he refused to recognise the victory of serving President Felipe Calderon, and led street protests afterwards.

Security display
Almost 80 million people were eligible to cast their ballots on Sunday.

Police and army were deployed to protect voters from intimidation by drug cartels at polling booths.

Officials said the voting was largely peaceful, but reported some initial problems as a number of stations opened later than planned.

"Everything has been very good," one voter in Mexico City told the BBC. "But people aren't very motivated to vote, perhaps because the candidates make so many promises but we're always worse off."

Another voter said: "I just hope we have a clean vote and don't see anything strange with the count."

With nearly one third of the Mexican population living in poverty, the economy was one of the main issues in the campaign.

Unemployment remains low at roughly 4.5%, but a huge divide remains between the rich and the poor.

Another issue dominating the campaign was the war on drugs, launched nearly six years ago by President Calderon, who is constitutionally barred from seeking re-election.

The main opposition candidates have been critical of Mr Calderon's policies.

They point out that more than 55,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since 2006.

Mexicans were also electing 500 deputies, 128 senators, six state governors, the head of government in the Federal District (which includes Mexico City) and local governments.

BBC News - Mexico's Enrique Pena Nieto 'wins presidential poll'