Mexico’s old guard to return

The party that ruled Mexico for most of the past century looked set for a comeback as voters chose a new president yesterday, seeking an end to a brutal drugs war and weak economic growth that have worn down the ruling conservatives.

Twelve years after the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) lost power, polls show its candidate, Enrique Pena Nieto, heading into the vote with a double-digit lead over his opponents, despite lingering doubts about the party.

Tainted by corruption, the PRI was voted out in 2000 after 71 years in office.