Mexican candidates debate as thousands protest front-runner

Source: Agence France-Presse

Mexican candidates debate as thousands protest front-runner
Sapa-AFP | 11 June, 2012 09:52

The four candidates for Mexico's presidency clashed late Sunday in a second televised debate as more than 90 000 people took to the streets of the capital to protest against the front-runner.

The verbal sparring match, held in Guadalajara, in the violence-torn state of Jalisco, could help decide the tight race with three weeks to go before the July 1 vote.

The top two rivals – Enrique Pena Nieto of the long-dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who lost by a narrow margin in 2006 – hoped to get a boost from the event that could take them over the top.

Both Pena Nieto and Lopez Obrador talked about the need to fight poverty, stimulate economic growth and recover Mexico's leading role in Latin America.

Read more: http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/2012/06/11/mexican-candidates-debate-as-thousands-protest-front-runner