The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which ruled Mexico for 71 years, is set to return to power after a decade as preliminary results show its Presidential candidate Enrique Pena Nieto is winning the election.
Reports say the centrist party is also likely to retake control of at least one of the two Chambers of Parliament and is leading in some Governorships.
The official quick count by the electoral authorities shows Nieto has won 38 percent of the votes polled on Sunday. His main rival, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), is in second place with about 31 percent of votes, and has not yet conceded defeat.
The ruling National Action Party's (PAN) Josefina Vazquez Mota is trailing with 26 percent votes, and admitted she is already out of the race.
After a traditional speech by outgoing President Felipe Calderon, Nieto declared: "We all won in this election. Mexico won."
Addressing the crowds of his jubilant supporters at the party headquarters on Sunday night, he vowed that his administration would have a "new way of governing." He promised a government that would be democratic, modern and open to criticism, and to "work for all of Mexico ... I will govern for everyone."
In an apparent reference to the party's dubious history of autocratic rule, links with drug gangs and corruption, the charismatic 45-year-old leader told supporters there would be no return to the past. The former Governor of the state of Mexico made it clear that "there will be no pact nor truce with organized crime."
Mexico is a country that has been severely under-valued in recent years due to its gruesome drug violence. But drug-related homicides in the country were 19 percent less than that of last year.
The Latin American country that shares dangerous borders with the United States, Mexico is still the number one destination for U.S. citizens traveling abroad, despite being on the list of travel warnings issued by the State Department.
Despite having a low unemployment rate at roughly 4.5 percent, almost half of the Mexicans live in poverty.
Elections were held also to both Houses of Congress, Mexico City mayor, Governorships in six states and local governments.
by RTT Staff Writer
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