[Source: Reuters]

Mexican voters experienced long lines on Sunday to cast ballots in a historic election expected to make leftist Claudia Sheinbaum, the ruling party candidate, the country’s first woman president.

Sheinbaum has led in opinion polls over her main competitor Xochitl Galvez, who represents an opposition coalition comprised of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which ruled Mexico for about seven decades until democratic elections in 2000, the right-wing PAN and the leftist PRD party. Outgoing president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is Sheinbaum’s mentor.

A victory by either woman would represent a major step for Mexico, a country known for its macho culture. The winner, set to begin a six-year term on Oct. 1, will face formidable challenges including addressing organized crime violence.

On her way to vote on Sunday morning, Sheinbaum told journalists it was a “historic day” and that she felt at ease and content.

Galvez, a businesswoman and senator, chatted with supporters as she arrived to cast her ballot shortly after polls opened.

Lopez Obrador greeted supporters and posed for photos as he walked from the presidential palace to vote with his wife.

There were long lines of voters outside polling places, even before they opened at 8 a.m. local time (1400 GMT), with some reports of delayed openings.

The campaign has been marred by violence, with 38 candidates murdered including a local candidate who was fatally shot on Saturday night. That is the highest toll in Mexico’s modern history, stoking concerns about the threat of warring drug cartels to democracy.

Almost 100 million Mexicans are eligible to vote in Sunday’s election. Other positions up for grabs include Mexico City’s mayor, eight governorships and both chambers of Congress. About 20,000 elected positions are on ballots, the most in Mexico’s history.

The polls will close at 6 p.m. local time (0000 GMT on Monday). The first official preliminary results are expected late on Sunday.