Peña Nieto projected as winner in Mexico’s presidential election

The political party that has ruled the Mexican country for more than 70 years will return to power after election authorities projected Enrique Peña Nieto as the winner in Mexico’s presidential election. With 37.93 percent to 38.55 percent of the votes accounted for, the Federal Election Institute said late on Sunday night that Pena Nieto was in the lead.

Peña Nieto’s projected victory marks a triumphant return to power for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which lost its grip on Mexico’s presidency to the conservative National Action Party in 2000. “I take with great emotion and a great sense of commitment and full responsibility the mandate Mexicans have granted me today,” Peña Nieto told supporters while standing at a podium with a sign displaying “Mexico won.” He said, “We are a new generation. There is no return to the past. My government will have its vision based in the future.” Weeks before the vote on Sunday, criticisms of Peña Nieto and concerns about the PRI’s potential return to power ignited a student movement that has staged demonstrations throughout the country.