Mexico City - Mexico's ruling party presidential candidate, Mr Francisco Labastida, is in a dead heat with the chief opposition candidate, Mr Vicente Fox, nine days before national elections, two polls said yesterday. A poll by Mexican daily Milenio and polling firm AC Nielsen showed Mr Labastida of the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) with 42 per cent, three points ahead of Mr Fox of the centre-right National Action Party (PAN) in the July 2nd election.
But because of the razor-thin margin, the newspaper said that the results showed a technical tie. The survey of 2,489 Mexicans was conducted between June 12th and June 19th. No margin of error was given.
A poll published by the Dallas Morning News, meanwhile, showed Mr Labastida with a slight lead over his rival. The long-time bureaucrat and former governor of Sinaloa had 34 per cent of voter preferences and Mr Fox, a former Coca-Cola executive and Guanajuato state governor, had 33 per cent.