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Voters headed to the polls south of border on Sunday where they elected a new president into office during a historic election.

Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate Enrique Peña-Nieto took the lead early in the night and maintained it.

Polls results show that leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador came in second place.

Action 4 News spoke to UTB Government Professor Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera via Skype about the outcome of the election.

She said the PRI party ruled Mexico for decades and is best known for corruption.

But based on the votes, she said Mexican voters were willing to look the other way for security and peace of mind amid a gruesome drug war.

“It's more about their fears than about their hopes,” Correa-Cabrera said. “It’s sad that this is happening, right? Mexicans are not looking on the positive but rather looking on the negative and trying to address the negative side of their lives.”

Historic Election

Correa-Cabrera said Sunday’s vote signaled that voters are not willing to continue with President Felipe Calderon’s drug war.

Josefina Vasquez-Mota, the candidate for Calderon’s National Action Party (PAN), came in third place.

Correa-Cabrera believes that the ballot box defeat means that Mexican voters do not approve of Calderon or his party’s strategy.

Since taking office back in 2006, Calderon’s drug war has left more than 50,000 dead.

“We have lived through a very difficult period of time,” Correa-Cabrera said. “It’s a very difficult thing and it’s interesting that the candidates didn’t address completely well the issue of security.”

Tamaulipas Voters

Figures from Mexico’s Federal Elections Institute (IFE) show a 57 percent voter turnout just south of the Rio Grande Valley in the State of Tamaulipas.

Voters in Tamaulipas cast 40 percent of their ballots for Vasquez-Mota while Peña-Nieto came in second.

Action 4 News visiting a polling location and spoke to voters south of the border in Nuevo Progreso.

Voter Guillermina Cisneros would not say who she voted for but said she hopes whoever ended up winning improves the security situation.

“There’s no tourism here anymore…there’s nothing,” Cisneros said in Spanish. “Whoever’s the new president, hopefully they can do something.”

Correa-Cabrera says the polls show that many others agree with Cisneros.

The professor said that the PRI were corrupt but ruled Mexico for 70 years without major disruptions to people’s lives by drug cartels.

“They assured security for a long time and they know how to do things,” Correa-Cabrera said. “I feel that they’re compromising corruption for security.”