Mexican Voters Head to the Polls

Sunday , July 02, 2006

MEXICO CITY — Mexicans decided Sunday whether their country would become the latest Latin American nation to move to the left, voting in a tight presidential race between a shopkeeper's son promising to save the poor and a conservative calling his rival's free-spending populism dangerous.

The campaign, which exposed Mexico's painful class divisions, was the first since Vicente Fox's stunning victory six years ago ended 71 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

Polls predict a close race between conservative Felipe Calderon, 43, of Fox's National Action Party, and leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, 52, a former Mexico City mayor from the Democratic Revolution Party. The PRI's Roberto Madrazo, 53, was running a distant third, ahead of two minor candidates.

CountryWatch: Mexico

All three candidates promised to strengthen relations with the United States while opposing increased border security measures unpopular in Mexico.

Calderon champions temporary guest work programs and job creation so people will not cross the border. Lopez Obrador, on the other hand, promises to use Mexican consulates to defend immigrants' rights in the United States and wants the U.S. government to contribute to job creation in Mexico.

Officials hoped to announce a new president a few hours after the last poll closed at 9 p.m. EDT, based on a quick count. But they cautioned they would wait if no candidate had a strong enough lead.