More populist policies or tougher fight with cartels? Mexicans weigh choice as they pick new leader

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Voters choosing Mexico’s next president are deciding Sunday between a former academic who promises to further the current leader's populist policies and an ex-senator and tech entrepreneur who pledges to up the fight against deadly drug cartels.

In an election likely to give Mexico its first woman president, nearly 100 million people are registered to vote in the race to replace outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Voters will also elect governors in nine of the country's 32 states, and choose candidates for both houses of Congress, thousands of mayorships and other local posts.

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.

Morena hopes to gain the two-thirds majority in Congress required to amend the constitution to eliminate oversight agencies that it says are unwieldy and wasteful. The opposition, running in a loose coalition, argues that would endanger Mexico's democratic institutions.