ELECTION campaigning closed in Mexico on Wednesday night with left-wing presidential front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador promising a “new phase of transformation” in the country.

Mr Obrador is expected to win Sunday’s vote, the latest polls putting him on 49 per cent, comfortably ahead of his rivals: the right-wing National Action Party’s Ricardo Anaya on 27 per cent and more centrist Jose Antonio Meade on 21 per cent.

Thousands of supporters gathered in Mexico City’s Aztec Stadium for a concert and live performances to mark the end of a bloody campaign which has seen the assassination of over 100 candidates and journalists.

But Mr Orbrador promised a “peaceful transition” which will root out corruption and tackle inequality in the country.

“Nobody be scared of the word radical, which comes from the word ‘the root.’ And it will be a transformation that gets at the roots.

“We are going to end this cancer that is destroying the country. We are going to destroy corruption,” he told the crowds.

“I am the oldest candidate, but the young people, with their rebelliousness, imagination and freshness, know that we represent the new. The young people know that we represent modernity.”