Mexico's opposition party that dominated the country for most of the past century poised for a comeback after the ruling conservatives failed to provide strong growth or halt
a brutal drugs war.

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, electoral fraud and occasional bouts of brutal authoritarianism during its 71 years in power, the PRI was voted out in 2000. But it has bounced back, helped by the economic malaise and a tide of lawlessness that have plagued Mexico under the conservative National Action Party, or PAN.

Polls will open at 8am, 9am EDT, 1300GMT, and the first national exit polls are expected when voting ends in the westernmost part of the country 12 hours later.

[Reuters]

Chris Arsenault, our expert in the field, asks if this really is A return of Mexico's 'perfect dictatorship'?. Follow him for his eye witness accounts and insights about the elections @ajechris