Mexico's PRI candidate set to win presidential election

Mexico's opposition candidate Enrique Pena Nieto is set to become the country's next president, according to preliminary results. Pena Nieto secured some 36% of the vote, several points ahead of his nearest rival, according to the (BBC). A win for the 45-year-old former state governor would see the return to power of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the party that 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. Celebrations at the headquarters of the PRI started after the polls closed. Party president Joaquin Coldwell said all the polls "irreversibly" showed Pena Nieto would win the poll, which was dominated by the economy and the war on drugs. 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. 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 official announcement is still to be made, but few now expect any other outcome, according to the BBC. Josefina Vazquez Mota, the candidate of the governing National Action Party (PAN) has already accepted defeat. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, running for the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) in second place with about 32% of the vote. Lopez Obrador, who was the runner-up in the 2006 election, has not yet made a statement. In 2006, he refused to recognize the victory of serving President Felipe Calderon, and led street protests afterwards. 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. With nearly half 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. 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.