 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | July 2006 
Defeated Candidate Calls for Civil Resistance
 Jo Tuckman - The Guardian
| | Defeated Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador. (Gregory Bull/AP) |
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the defeated leftwing candidate in Mexico's presidential election, has called for a radicalisation of the campaign to force a recount.
Speaking at a rally after a march of hundreds of thousands of supporters through the capital, Mr López Obrador announced more marches and a plan for non-violent civil resistance.
The official count of votes cast in the July 2 election gave a narrow victory of below 0.6% to the conservative candidate, Felipe Calderón. Mr López Obrador says tally sheets were fiddled to rob him of victory.
López Obrador Describes More Elections Offenses
Kelly Arthur Garrett - El Universal
Andrés Manuel López Obrador took to the airwaves Tuesday, presenting more evidence of vote- count irregularities in the July 2 presidential vote as he again cast his demand for a full recount as part of a bigger effort to salvage the nation´s nascent electoral democracy.
"We´re not talking about a minor matter," the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) candidate said during an hour-long radio interview with journalist Carlos Loret de Mola.
"We´re talking about an offense against democracy, an electoral fraud that tramples the rights of citizens."
López Obrador, who trails right-wing National Action Party candidate Felipe Calderón in the uncertified vote tally by 0.58 percent, walked listeners through an official tally sheet that showed Calderón with 766 votes at a polling site in the state of San Luis Potosí with only 412 registered voters.
Another official count reviewed by López Obrador, with Loret de Mola overseeing it, gave Calderón 786 votes in a Nuevo Leon precinct with only 412 total voters.
López Obrador contends there are enough such discrepancies to support the candidate´s claim that he outpolled Calderón by a wide margin. He said Tuesday that there is evidence that 1.5 million phantom votes exist. The difference between López Obrador and Calderón in the uncertified count is 243,000 votes.
"That´s why I´m calling for a full recount, vote by vote and precinct by precinct," he said. "It´s better for everybody. It´s the best way to resolve the problem."
Calderón has consistently refused to accept a full recount, insisting that there is no legal provision for doing so, and that the votes have already been counted accurately. The Electoral Tribunal, or TEPJF, will decide whether a full or partial recount will take place after examining the extensive PRD legal challenge of the July 2 vote.
The tribunal has until August 31 to rule on the legal challenge.
The PRD candidate took the opportunity to chide his opponent for opposing the recount.
"If he´s so sure he won, why doesn´t he want the packets opened for a vote by vote recount," he said. "It´s because he knows full well that he didn´t win."
López Obrador has pledged to accept the final result of a full recount, which he said could be carried out in 15 days. But he hedged Tuesday on how he would react to a TEPJF ruling without a recount. "We´re going to wait and see what the Tribunal says," he said.
López Obrador´s opponents seize on such statements to criticize him for disrespecting the rule of law, an accusation he sought to turn around Tuesday.
"I want my adversaries to put themselves in my place," he told Loret de Mola. "What do you do when you are robbed, along with the hopes of millions of Mexicans? You demand justice and you stay with it until there is justice."
Loret de Mola spent much of the early part of the interview grilling the PRD candidate on an incident earlier in the day in which Calderón´s vehicle was reportedly kicked after seven young protesters shouted at him as he left a meeting in Mexico City´s Historic Center.
"What happened to non-violence? Are things slipping out of your control?" the journalist asked López Obrador, who on Sunday presided over an incident-free rally of more than a million supporters.
"Not at all," replied the candidate. "People act responsibly. I don´t agree with those actions (the truck-kicking), but I will also say that the offense of trampling the will of the Mexican people is a bigger one." |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us