Conservative takes slim lead in Mexico election race

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's conservative presidential candidate Felipe Calderon holds a narrow lead in a bitterly contested election, but his leftist rival vowed to challenge the result legally.

Calderon was ahead of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador by about 400,000 votes with returns in from more than 98 per cent of polling stations. A senior election official said it was unlikely to change with a recount ordered for later this week.

Lopez Obrador said his Party of the Democratic Revolution team had found irregularities in the preliminary vote count and he planned to file a legal challenge. Calderon, of the ruling National Action Party, said his lead was irreversible and called on rivals to put aside differences.

- REUTERS