Mexico election too close to call

by Kieran Murray and Alistair Bell
MEXICO CITY
Mexico's presidential election is too close to call with the main candidates locked in a tie, exit polls said on Sunday.

The extremely close vote raised fears of a political crisis if either or both of the candidates challenge the results and call street protests.

Exit polls showed the result was too close to call. Pre-election poll leaders showed Felipe Calderon of the ruling party and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the left-wing former mayor of Mexico City, in a virtual tie.

The Federal Electoral Institute was expected to announce official results at around 11 p.m. If it is unable to call a winner, Mexico could face days or weeks of legal wrangling and protests similar to the fight that followed the U.S. presidential election in 2000.

That would spook Mexico's financial markets, which are already nervous about Lopez Obrador's economic policies.

He campaigned on promises to end two decades of free-market reforms and pull millions out of poverty with welfare benefits and new jobs in ambitious infrastructure projects.

"Lopez Obrador is the only one who can bring a new Mexican revolution where the poor are the ones who win," said Amalia Rodriguez, a 19-year-old student in Mexico City.

Lopez Obrador was the red-hot favorite for most of the campaign but Calderon closed the gap with aggressive TV ads painting his rival as a danger to Mexico's economic stability and linking him to Venezuela's anti-U.S. firebrand President Hugo Chavez.