Peña Nieto unscathed in TV debate The opposition candidate and frontrunner in Mexico's presidential election emerged unscathed from a live, televised debate late Sunday that some observers saw as the last chance for his rivals to close the gap on him. Enrique Peña Nieto, candidate for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who leads his closest competitors by about 13 percentage points, according to most polls, told millions of television viewers on Sunday that he would increase prosperity for Mexico's 112m population. "We must take a different course, which will bring about better conditions for Mexicans," he said in a long-awaited, two-hour television debate in the city of Guadalajara. The event was the last of two live television debates before Mexicans go to the polls on July 1. A victory for Mr Peña Nieto, the young and telegenic former governor of the state of Mexico, which circles Mexico City, would mean not only the fulfilment of a personal quest but also the return of his PRI party which ruled Mexico for 71 years until losing power in 2000. Many Mexicans fear that a return of the PRI would roll back the past 12 years or so of progress in implementing democracy in the country. In that sense, Sunday's debate was expected to put a microscope on Mr Peña Nieto following a difficult time last month when university students in Mexico City staged protests after they heckled him during a campaign event. The protests, which followed suggestions from his campaign that some of the heckling was not genuine, were the stiffest test yet of Mr Peña Nieto's resolve. On Sunday, Josefina Vázquez Mota of the ruling National Action Party, who is currently in third place with just over 20 points, according to one opinion poll, tried to capitalise on Mr Peña Nieto's run-in with the students. "We don't want someone who is going to hide in the bathroom," she said of his botched attempts to exit the university following the event last month. Yet Mr Peña Nieto brushed off the challenge, arguing that he welcomed the students" comments. "It's a voice I respect," he said.