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Tens of thousands of Mexican students have been protesting over several weeks in a dramatic turn in Mexico’s Presidential race that many have dubbed the Mexican Spring. The movement reflects growing anger among Mexico’s young and educated population and was sparked by a group of 131 students at a private university who confronted the Presidential frontrunner Enrique Pena Nieto. The students accused Nieto of benefiting from biased media coverage from Mexico’s two dominant media outlets. The resulting slogan of “Yo Soy 132” has been widely adopted as students are mobilizing using social networks and making broader demands for democracy and against corruption.

Nieto is known for his heavy handed governorship in 2006 when he oversaw the imprisonment and repression of activists in San Salvador Atenco. In running for President, Nieto’s win seemed inevitable, signalling the possible return to power of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that ruled Mexico for more than 70 years until 2000.

But the mass student protests have emerged as a wild card in the election and buoyed the candidacy of the left-leaning Andres Manual Lopez Obrador. Obrador last ran for President in 2006 against the conservative Felipe Calderon and was viewed by many as the legitimate winner in an election marred by widespread fraud. Representing a diverse coalition of political parties, he has now climbed dramatically in the polls. In fact, a poll released on Thursday by the newspaper Reforma shows Obrador trailing Nieto by only 3 percentage points. Also running for President is Ms. Vazquez Mota, representing the current ruling National Action Party or PAN.

GUEST: Laura Carlsen, Director of the Mexico City-based Americas Program of the Center for International Policy and a columnist for Foreign Policy In Focus