The party of Mexican presidential candidate Enrique Pena Nieto claimed Sunday night that he had won the country's presidential vote.

Joaquin Coldwell, president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), said at the PRI headquarters that the results of all the exit polls showed Nieto won the election without doubt.

The exit polls showed that Nieto won 40 to 42 percent of the vote, with his nearest rival Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, candidate of the Democratic

Revolution Party (PRD), in second place. Josefina Vazquez Mota of the ruling National Action Party (PAN) is in third place.

Coldwell said that the final results would be announced by the president of the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) Leonardo Valdes later.

IFE said it would announce the results of a representative sample of polling stations at 11:45 p.m. Sunday (0445 GMT Monday), based on the count results of 7597 of 143,132 voting stations throughout the country.

Both the PRI and a fourth candidate, Gabriel Quadri de la Torre of the New Alliance Party (Panal), had urged Obrador to concede defeat, but Obrador said he would made a victory or concession declaration after the results are announced by the IFE.