Voters in Mexico are going to the polls on Sunday poised to elect a new president. Many believe the voters will bring back the old guard into power. Twelve years ago, the Institutional Revolutionary Party lost the presidency that it held for over 70 years, proving the country actually was a democracy. However, it appears that the PRI will once again take the presidency as Enrique Pena Nieto; the former Governor of the state of Mexico has a strong lead heading to the voting poll today.
The party has been helped of late by voter fatigue. The sluggish economy in the country and the increase in the drug war that has killed over 50,000 people in the country the past six years have convinced voters a change needs to take place. The want for change has benefitted the PRI, which was in power in Mexico between 1929 and 2000.
Andre Manuel Lopez Obrador is a leftist hoping to win in an upset. He narrowly lost in the last election in Mexico and his loss led to voter fraud charges and weeks of huge protests. In addition, the National Action Party candidate, Josefina Vazquez Mota, the first woman to be nominated for the Mexican presidency by a major party, hopes for an upset win.
Pena Nieto has campaigned as an economic moderate in the same mold as the last three presidents who were in the PRI. He wants greater private investment in the state-controlled oil industry. He also said he wants to reduce the amount of violence by attacking the types of crimes that affect the ordinary citizens, while decreasing the importance of pursuing drug kingpins.
