Mexico leftist has slim vote lead in partial count

MEXICO CITY, July 5 (Reuters) Mexico's leftist presidential candidate held a narrow, 2.6 percentage point lead over his conservative rival today with results in from half of polling stations in a fiercely contested election.

It was too soon to say, however, whether Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's lead would hold.

Results on display at Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute showed Lopez Obrador had 37.11 percent of the vote with results in from 54.92 percent of polling stations.

Conservative ruling party candidate Felipe Calderon was second with 34.52 percent.

Preliminary results earlier this week from Sunday's election gave Calderon a lead of about 0.6 percentage points over Lopez Obrador.

Reuters DH VP0220