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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | July 2006 
Leftist, Conservative Both Claim Victory in Mexico's Presidential
 AFP
| | Protesters in the village of San Salvador Atenco burn real and copies of their electoral identity cards as a protest against the elections July 2, 2006. San Salvador Atenco is a combative farming town that has been under a form of self-rule since machete-wielding peasants scuttled plans to build a new airport early in Mexico's President Vicente Fox's term. (Reuters/J Guadalupe Perez) |
Mexico City - Leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and conservative Felipe Calderon have both claimed victory in Mexico's presidential election even though authorities said the race was too close to call.
Tensions rose as supporters took to the streets in rival celebrations early Monday, despite an official announcement the winner would not be declared before Wednesday.
"According to our data we have won the vote by at least 500,000 votes. This is irreversible," said Lopez Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor who champions the cause of the millions of impoverished Mexicans.
"We will demonstrate our triumph," he told thousands of jubilant supporters in the capital's historic Zocalo square, who also celebrated the triumph of his Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) in the capital's mayoral race.
Minutes later, conservative Felipe Calderon, of the ruling National Action Party (PAN), also claimed victory. "We have won the presidential elections," he said, pointing to several projections and a partial count that put him in the lead.
With votes from over 50 percent of the polling stations counted, Calderon claimed he had almost 38 percent, two points ahead of his rival.
The cliffhanger was closely followed in Washington, which evidently hoped to see a reversal of the trend that brought several leftist leaders to power in Latin America over the past few years.
US Ambassador Antonio Garcia urged Mexicans to await official results, and said the US administration looked forward to working "with whoever is declared the winner."
Calderon's campaign has likened the leftist candidate to Venezuela's virulently anti-US President Hugo Chavez, and warned he would plunge the country into a ruinous economic crisis.
Analysts generally dismiss the comparison and say that while Lopez Obrador has little interest in foreign policy, he is not hostile to the United States, by far Mexico's largest trading partner.
But Eduardo Matias Lopez, 50, who fled Cuba 20 years ago and has since become a Mexican citizen, worried about the consequences of a possible Lopez Obrador victory.
"I am afraid we could have a regime like that of Venezuela or Cuba," he said as he stood in line to cast his ballot in the capital.
"I fled Cuba because of an authoritarian regime and I will flee again if there is a similar regime in Mexico."
Lopez Obrador, 52, angrily rejects suggestions his policies would be anything less than democratic, and insists that the reforms he plans would improve the lot of downtrodden.
"If Lopez Obrador wins, there will be social change. It won't be a radical change, but the situation will improve, particularly for the most needy," said physical therapist Margarita Grijalba, 50, who woke up before dawn to vote.
Lopez Obrador says he would finance major job-creating infrastructure projects and hand out financial aid to elderly and handicapped people, as he did when he was mayor of Mexico City from 2000 to 2005.
For his part, Calderon, 43, a staunchly conservative former energy minister, wants to encourage foreign investment and slash corporate taxes in order to boost economic growth.
His rival insists the wealth is not trickling down to the millions of Mexicans who live on less than two dollars a day and who in many cases risk their lives by crossing the border illegally in search of the American dream.
Mexico's next president, who will take office on December 1, will face formidable challenges in trying to fulfill campaign pledges of battling poverty, corruption, common crime and drug-fueled violence.
He will also be hampered a lack of congressional majority.
Exit polls showed the ruling PAN will have 35 percent of deputies, the PRD 31 percent, with another 28 percent going to the Party of the Institutional Revolution (PRI), which ruled Mexico for 71 years until its historic 2000 defeat by President Vicente Fox.
PRI candidate Roberto Madrazo was expected to take third place in the presidential election.
Projections also showed the PAN won the three gubernatorial elections. |
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