Mexico votes in presidential polls
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Many voters are sick of the two parties that have governed Mexico for nearly a century
Mexicans began voting yesterday in general elections marked by deep anger over endemic corruption and brutal violence, with anti-establishment leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador looking poised to sweep to power.
Leading by more than 20 points in the polls, the sharp-tongued, silver-haired politician, also known as ‘Amlo’ has successfully tapped voters' anger with a seemingly never-ending series of corruption scandals and horrific violence that left a record 25,000 murders last year -- an orgy of bloodshed fueled by the country's powerful drug cartels.
Lopez Obrador, who was first in line to cast his ballot at his polling station in Mexico City's Tlalpan district, called the elections "historic."
"We represent the possibility of real change, a transformation," he told hundreds of journalists crowded at the entrance.
"People are going to decide between more of the same or a genuine change.... We are going to achieve a peaceful transformation, without violence. There is going to be an orderly but also deep change, because we are going to banish corruption, the main problem facing Mexico."
Preliminary official results are expected around 0400 GMT today.
Many voters are sick of the two parties that have governed Mexico for nearly a century: the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the conservative National Action Party (PAN).
Lopez Obrador, 64, calls them both part of the same "mafia of power," a message that has resonated with many people -- even if the former Mexico City mayor has been vague on what the change he promises will look like.
The poll aggregator Oraculus gave Lopez Obrador 48.1 percent of the vote heading into election day, to 26.1 percent for former speaker of Congress Ricardo Anaya of the PAN, 20.8 percent for ex-finance minister Jose Antonio Meade of the PRI and five percent for independent candidate Jaime Rodriguez.
Lopez Obrador's coalition -- led by his party, Morena -- is within striking distance of a congressional majority and six of the nine governorships up for grabs.
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