Leftist 'AMLO' favourite as Mexico vote opens

Mexicans began voting today in general elections marked by deep anger over endemic corruption and brutal violence, with anti-establishment leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador looking poised to sweep to power.

Leading by more than 20 points in the polls, the sharp-tongued, silver-haired politician has successfully tapped voters' anger with a seemingly never-ending series of corruption scandals and horrific violence that left a record 25,000 murders last year -- an orgy of bloodshed fuelled by the country's powerful drug cartels.

Lopez Obrador, who was first in line to cast his ballot at his polling station in Mexico City's Tlalpan district, called the elections "historic." "We represent the possibility of real change, a transformation," he told hundreds of journalists crowded at the entrance.

"People are going to decide between more of the same or a genuine change.... We are going to achieve a peaceful transformation, without violence. There is going to be an orderly but also deep change, because we are going to banish corruption, the main problem facing Mexico."
"We're looking at a shift in Mexican politics."