Mexican presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum raises her arms after speaking at her closing campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, Mexico, May 29, 2024. /CFP
Millions of Mexicans are expected to vote for their first woman president in a landmark election on Sunday.
Addressing a crowd of thousands at her closing campaign rally, ruling party candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, 61, said Mexico is going to "make history" this weekend.
Sheinbaum, a former Mexico City mayor and a scientist by training, was leading her main opposition rival Xochitl Galvez, also 61, by around 17 points in opinion polls days before the election.
Nearly 100 million people are registered to vote in the country of 129 million.
Mexican opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez takes selfies with supporters during a campaign rally in Ciudad Guzman, Jalisco, Mexico, May 27, 2024. /CFP
The campaign season ended on a tragic note on Wednesday when a gunman shot dead an aspiring mayor in the southern state of Guerrero.
The attack brought the number of local politicians who have been murdered to at least 24, according to official figures.
Sheinbaum has pledged to continue outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's controversial "hugs not bullets" strategy of tackling crime at its roots.
Galvez, meanwhile, promised a tougher approach to cartel-related violence.
"You will have the bravest president, a president who does confront crime," the outspoken senator and businesswoman with Indigenous roots told her closing rally in the northern city of Monterrey.
It is almost a year since the contest for the ruling party nomination got underway, with Sheinbaum crisscrossing the country to meet supporters.
Members of the Michoacan Civil Guard tour the sites where polling stations will be installed in Morelia, Michoacan state, Mexico, May 30, 2024. /CFP
The ruling party candidate had the backing of 53 percent of voters as campaigning drew to a close, according to a poll average compiled by research firm Oraculus.
Galvez, who lashed out at her main rival in a series of televised presidential debates, was second with 36 percent.
The only man running, 38-year-old centrist Jorge Alvarez Maynez, had just 11 percent.
Tackling the cartel violence that makes murder and kidnapping a daily occurrence in Mexico will be among the major challenges facing the next leader, along with managing migration and delicate relations with the neighboring United States.
As well as voting for a new president, Mexicans will choose members of Congress, several state governors and a myriad of local officials. In total, more than 20,000 positions are being contested.
(With input from AFP)