Voters lineup as polls for historic Mexico presidential election open

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Polls for Mexico's Presidential election are now open for citizens of Mexico in the Central Valley. The country is on the brink of electing its first female president.

This is the first year that eligible Mexican citizens can vote in a presidential election in person outside of Mexico.

The Consulate of Mexico on Ingram and Alluvial avenues in northeast Fresno says there are more than 1,000 people in line.

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At least 1,000 voters in northeast Fresno have lined up to participate in Mexico's election, which could see its first female president elected.

Mexicans abroad can vote online, by mail or in person. If you did not register to vote, around 1500 ballots will be available for anyone with a current ID who did not register to vote before February 25.

Mexico's National Electoral Institute (INE) says voter turnout outside of Mexico has increased from roughly 32,000 in the 2006 presidential election to an estimated more than 200,000 this year.

The elections are widely seen as a referendum on López Obrador, a populist who has expanded social programs but largely failed to reduce cartel violence in Mexico. His Morena party currently holds 23 of the 32 governorships and a simple majority of seats in both houses of Congress. Mexico's constitution prohibits the president's reelection.

The top two contenders representing the country's better-known parties are Mexico City's mayor Claudia Sheinbaum and former senator Xóchitl Gálvez.

Sheinbaum, who leads in the race as the Morena party's candidate, has promised to continue all of López Obrador's policies, including a universal pension for the elderly and a program that pays youths to apprentice.

Gálvez, whose father was Indigenous Otomi, rose from selling snacks on the street in her poor hometown to start her own tech firms. A candidate running with a coalition of major opposition parties, she left the Senate last year to focus her ire on López Obrador's decision to avoid confronting the drug cartels through his "hugs, not bullets" policy. She has pledged to go after criminals more aggressively.

The polls are expected to close at 6 p.m. Sunday. However, the consulate in northeast Fresno is closing at 5 p.m. The first preliminary, partial results are expected by 9 p.m. after the last polls in different time zones close.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.