CANCUN, Mexico, March 31 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush said on Friday he was sure that Mexico's change of government, due on Dec. 31, would be peaceful, and that he would work with whomever wins the poll.

    "I love having a strong and vibrant democracy on our southern frontier,"  Bush said after a meeting with his Mexican counterpart Vicente Fox and Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Cancun, a tourist resort on Mexico's Caribbean coast, 1,290 km from the nation's capital Mexico City.

    He praised Fox as a "strong" leader and said "Democracy is a very important legacy of his administration."

    "We hope there will be a peaceful change of government in Mexico and we are sure that it will happen that way," the U.S. leader said.

    Bush told a Mexican newspaper this week that he could work with whomever wins the Mexican general elections scheduled to be held on July 2.

    Currently the front runner is former Mexico City mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD).

    The two other main candidates, National Action Party (PAN) candidate Felipe Calderon and Institutional Revolution Party (PRI)candidate Robert Madrazo, are lagging far behind.

    Some media reports here say the PAN and PRI have resorted to advertisements that are beyond the normal political debate.

    The ruling PAN party has published advertisements insinuating that Obrador and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the main U.S. foe in Latin America, are similar and both are "intolerant" leaders.

    PAN president Fox, who became the first opposition leader to win the presidency after 71 years of uninterrupted PRI rule, will step down on Dec. 1.

    Mexican presidents serve a single six-year term. Enditem