Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexican leader appears at a polling station during the elections

Anti-establishment leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador won Mexico's presidential election Sunday by a large margin, according to exit polls, in a landmark break with the parties that have governed for nearly a century.

Three polling firms gave the former Mexico City mayor the win. Newspaper El Financiero's exit poll gave him 49 percent of the vote to 27 percent for conservative Ricardo Anaya and 18 percent for ruling-party candidate Jose Antonio Meade.

Polling firms Mitofsky and the Strategic Communications Cabinet announced broadly similar results in their own exit polls. All had Lopez Obrador winning more than 40 percent of the vote in the single-round race, well ahead of his rivals.