Leftist Lopez Obrador wins Mexico presidential election – exit polls

Mexico’s presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for the “Juntos haremos historia” party, gives his thumb up after casting his vote during general elections, in Mexico City, on July 1, 2018. Sick of endemic corruption and horrific violence fueled by the country’s powerful drug cartels, Mexicans go to the polls seeking for any alternative to the two parties that have governed for nearly a century: the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the conservative National Action Party (PAN). / AFP PHOTO / ALFREDO ESTRELLA

Mexico City, Mexico – Anti-establishment leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador won Mexico’s presidential election on Sunday by a large margin, exit polls showed, in a landmark break with the parties that have governed for nearly a century.

Three polling firms gave the former Mexico City mayor the win. Newspaper El Financiero’s exit poll gave him 49 percent of the vote to 27 percent for conservative Ricardo Anaya, and 18 percent for ruling-party candidate Jose Antonio Meade.

Polling firms Mitofsky and the Strategic Communications Cabinet announced broadly similar results in their own exit polls. All had Lopez Obrador winning more than 40 percent of the vote in the single-round race, well ahead of his rivals.   /kga