Mexicans will go to polls on Sunday to elect a new president, local governors and members of parliament.
Four candidates are running for the presidential office. According to independent public polls, Pena Nieto of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, the PRI, is the front-runner in the race. Various polls show him enjoying a lead of between 10 and 18 percent over his closest contender Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party.
According to the official Eleccion 2012 Mexico online portal, however, Josefina Vazquez Mota of the governing conservative National Action Party (PAN) is the leader of the race, with a 1-percent advantage over Nieto.
The other candidate, Gabriel Quadri of the tiny New Alliance Party, has been drawing single digits in the polls.
Incumbent President Felipe Calderon, who has been in power since 2006, is barred by the constitution from seeking a second term.
The PRI, which has been in power in Mexico for almost 70 years from 1929 to 2000, is trying to regain the presidency after losing the last two elections to the PAN.
Nearly 80 million Mexicans are eligible to cast ballots in Sunday’s vote.
Some 31,400 monitors, including around 700 international observers, will monitor the polls, yet the fear of electoral fraud remains a constant worry.
Besides the president, Mexicans will also elect 500 congressional deputies and 128 senators, as well as hundreds of local officials, including governors of six of Mexico's 31 states.
