Election Day winds down in Mexico

Elections in Mexico are coming to their end as polls are scheduled to close in a few hours. We will continue updating on what happens and hopefully have results confirmed tonight. Please leave comments below if you wish to discuss today's election proceedings. (All times EST).

(Updates from earlier today can be read here, later in the night can be viewed here.)

11.03pm- With slightly less than an hour to go until the IFE gives its preliminary report on the official results, none of the major Mexican television channels gives predictions on who will win the presidential election.

10:50pm- Images from Televisa and TV Azteca show hundreds of people gathering in the Zocalo, with supporters of AMLO waving yellow-colored flags.

10:20pm- Televisa confirms that the IFE has received information on 80% of the ballots which means that the head of the IFE will give a preliminary report on the official results at midnight tonight.

9:55pm- Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's campaign manager emphasizes that the majority of the exit polls have Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as the winner.

(Quick note: from now on I will type out the initals of each candidate instead of writing it all out. Hence, AMLO = Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, RM = Roberto Madrazo, and FC = Felipe Calderon).

9:45pm- The head of the electoral observer from the European Union, acknowledged certain problems with voting such as lack of ballots but emphasizes that the election process has been very fair. (Interviewed on CNN en Español).

CNN en Español goes on to provide very early results and with less than 1% of votes counted Felipe Calderon has about 40% and leads Lopez Obrador by appoximately 7%. (Of course, it's far too early to predict a winner with so few votes counted).

9:30pm- The president of PRI, Mariano Palacios, goes on camera to call on the IFE (Mexican electoral board) to not leak electoral results ahead of the official preliminary report to be announced at midnight. A smiling Roberto Madrazo stands by his side, looking around the room.

Televisa goes on to reveal their exit poll on the House of Representatives and it has the same results as TV Azteca said a few minutes before.

9:18pm- CNN en Español says that Mexican newspaper El Universal finds the presidential elections to close to call.

9:05pm- Televisa’s main broadcaster just spent approximately 2 minutes screaming about how “the LAW allows us to give the RESULTS of the exit polls! This is what the LAW says.” Then he says that their exit polls are not ready yet, so they cannot report them.

TV Azteca reports their exit poll for the House of Representatives and it has the PAN leading with 35%, the PRD next with 31%, and the PRI/Partido Verde alliance with 28%.

7:55pm- A quick check on what bloggers have been saying over the past 24 hours on the elections:

-A U.S. expat in Mexico confirms that voter turnout has been high and relatively calm in the state of Quintana Roo. On the other hand, Mexican journalist Ana Maria Salazar points out the shortcomings at special ballot sites due to the high turnout and the killing of a PRD representative this morning in Guerrero.

-Poliblog touches on how the electoral process has been steadily democratizing since 1988’s debacle and links to another blog entry that questions if Mexico will become a two-round system in the next election.

-Going Global provides excellent insight into Mexico’s economic development vis-à-vis the electoral process.

-While CNN en Español has been my main source of information on the today’s electoral proceedings, their English-language website has been woefully short of coverage according to this blogger. Another blogger feels that the lack of coverage is more far-reaching than just CNN.

-How to commit voter fraud, as noted by a college student in Mexico City.

-Lopez Obrador will win! No, Calderon will win! To hell with them, they're both Commies.

6:45pm- Telemundo's national news says that Mexico's electoral board hopes to report publicly on the results of the presidential election around 11pm tonight. (Midnight EST, I think). Univision's national news interviewed a few of the thousands of Mexicans who crossed the border to go vote in Tijuana. Not all those interviewed were going to vote for one of the candidates, though they were optimistic in that the new president will help Mexicans living at home and abroad.

mexico, election