Exit Polls: Pena Nieto Wins Mexican Presidential Election

Exit polls in Mexico’s presidential election show Enrique Pena Nieto winning by a wide margin.

The polls put Pena Nieto far ahead of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution, and Josefina Vazquez Mota, who hopes to become Mexico’s first female president.

A Pena Nieto win brings the Institutional Revolutionary Party back into power. The PRI ruled Mexico for 71 years until 2000. Its critics blamed the PRI’s long hold on power on corruption, electoral fraud and repression. But the party has been bolstered recently by voter fatigue from economic stagnation and a wave of lawlessness that have plagued Mexico under the conservative National Action Party, or PAN.

A large part of that lawlessness has stemmed from the country’s drug violence. Since President Felipe Calderon deployed the military against Mexico’s drug cartels in 2006, more than 50,000 people have been killed.

The three main candidates have signed an agreement in which they pledged to accept the results of Sunday’s presidential election. The agreement also called on Mexicans to respect the result of the election, despite political disagreements.