MEXICO CITY - THE ruling National Action Party (PAN) of Mexico late on Sunday admitted defeat in the country's legislative elections.

'We recognise the election results and congratulate the Institutional Revolutionary Party with becoming the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies,' PAN Chairman German Martinez told reporters.

PRI Chairwoman Beatriz Paredes pointed out that the result of the vote 'confirms that Mexico is a country that wants new proposals and new solutions.'

Sunday's balloting gave the opposition centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) 40 per cent of the vote, compared to 29 per cent gained by President Felipe Calderon's PAN, according to an exit poll made public by the Televisa network.

The leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) was running third with about 15 per cent of the vote, the survey showed.

The trend was largely borne out by partial official returns. With more than a third of precincts reporting, the PRI ran far ahead with 35.2 per cent of the ballot, followed by the PAN with 26.8 per cent.

The PRD was a distant third with just slightly over 12 per cent of the vote.

As a result, the ruling PAN stood to cede to the PRI its status as the largest party represented in the Chamber of Deputies, despite hopes that its crackdown on drug cartels across the country would reinforce its standing.

The PAN controls 206 seats in the current legislature, while the PRD has 123 and PRI 104. The new distribution of seats was expected to be announced later.

The PRI, which ran Mexico for much of the last century, now has a chance to regain a hold on the electorate.

Polls closed at 6.00pm (7am Singapore time) in most parts of the country, while voting ended at GMT0100 (9am Singapore time) in the northwestern states for the midterm elections, which were dominated by the explosion of violence linked to cocaine trafficking and the economic recession. -- AFP