Mexico Elections to be held on Sunday

TIME: Mexico heads to the polls Sunday in national elections that will likely mark a sharp change in the political direction of Latin America’s second largest economy. It comes at a time of disillusionment for many: incumbent President Enrique Peña Nieto is deeply unpopular, as is his rightwing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which has ruled Mexico for 77 of the last 90 years.

The favourite to replace Nieto is Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a populist who would be Mexico’s most leftwing leader in 80 years. His victory would constitute a major upheaval in a country currently battling unprecedented levels of violence, corruption and inequality. It would also set the stage for confrontations between two fierce nationalist populists, with U.S. President Donald Trump on the other side of the Rio Grande.

Mexico has presidential elections every six years, with presidents only able to stay on for one term.  It will be the country’s biggest ever day of voting, with more than 3,400 seats up for grabs at a local and state level, including 128 senators and 500 members of the Chamber of Deputies.