Claudia Sheinbaum is set to become Mexico's first female president after being projected as the winner by a "large margin."
According to exit surveys from pollster Parametria, Sheinbaum will win by a landslide 56% of the vote, with opposition candidate Xochitl Galvez receiving 30%.
Four additional exit polls predicted Sheinbaum would win.
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Provisional results will arrive in the next hours. Galvez has refused to yield, urging her followers to await official results.
A victory for Sheinbaum would be a significant milestone for Mexico, which is known for its macho culture. The winner will begin a six-year term on October 1.
"I never imagined that one day I would vote for a woman," said Edelmira Montiel, an 87-year-old Sheinbaum supporter from Mexico's smallest state, Tlaxcala, earlier on Sunday.
"Before we couldn't even vote, and when you could, it was to vote for the person your husband told you to vote for. Thank God that has changed and I get to live it," Montiel added.
Sheinbaum's MORENA party has also declared its candidate the Mexico City mayorship campaign winner, one of the country's most significant contests. However, the opposition has contested this and says its contender won.
Many voters were concerned about security at the elections, and Sheinbaum will be in charge of combating organized crime. More individuals have been slain under the mandate of departing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador than any previous government in Mexico's modern history, even though the homicide rate has decreased throughout his tenure.
Pre-election surveys predicted that MORENA and its allies would fall short of a two-thirds majority in Congress. This would make it more difficult for Sheinbaum to get constitutional revisions through opposition parties.