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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | July 2006 
Lopez Obrador Takes his Challenge Of Mexico's Election to the Street, Courts
 Patrick Moser - AFP
| | Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, of Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), speaks during a conference with international media, before attending a gathering at the Zocalo Square in Mexico City. Obrador took his challenge of Mexico's presidential election to the streets and to the courts, claiming the entire process was plagued by irregularities.(AFP/Susana Gonzalez) |
Leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, 52, took his challenge of Mexico's presidential election to the streets and to the courts, claiming the entire process was plagued by irregularities.
"What we are requesting is that the votes be recounted so that our triumph be demonstrated," he said ahead of a rally in downtown Mexico City to protest the results that gave a narrow victory to conservative Felipe Calderon, of the ruling National Action Party (PAN.)
He said his lawyers would demonstrate to the courts that the entire electoral process was warped.
"The process was plagued by irregularities," the standard-bearer of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) said at a news conference.
"The votes were counted but were badly counted. They were counted to favor the right-wing candidate," he said, claiming electoral authorities manipulated the process.
He also claimed that President Vicente Fox illegally interfered in the campaign in favor of Calderon, that the PAN had far exceeded campaign spending limits, and that the governing party bought votes.
The lawyers will present their challenge to the Federal Electoral Tribunal on Sunday, and will also file complaints with the Supreme Court, which can issue recommendations to the tribunal, the final arbiter of electoral disputes.
He made it clear he will also take his protest to the streets, saying Saturday's demonstration would be the first of several such actions, but insisting the rallies would be peaceful.
The former Mexico City mayor lashed out at Calderon, claiming the Harvard-trained conservative served "a very powerful interest group in Mexico that for quite a while has converted the government into a committee at the service of a minority."
"This group not only has no interest in improving the life of millions of Mexicans, but has profound contempt for the poor."
Asked about foreign leaders, including US President George W. Bush, who congratulated Calderon on his victory, Lopez Obrador insisted "there is no president-elect in Mexico."
The electoral tribunal has until September 6 to render its final verdict on the outcome of the July 2 election.
Calderon, 43, who won with an advantage of just over 244,000 votes, or 0.6 percentage points, dismissed his rival's claims, and a number of international observers called the election free and fair.
He insisted now was the time for Mexicans to put the campaign disputes behind them and work to create a politically stable country attractive to foreign investors.
Speaking to journalists on Friday, Calderon said that battling poverty, which affects half the 103 million population, would be one of his top priorities.
He urged the United States to invest in economically depressed areas of Mexico to create badly-needed jobs.
This he said would be far more effective in halting illegal migration to the United States than a wall the US administration plans to build along the border. Last year, an estimated 400,000 Mexicans crossed the border illegally, often risking their lives trekking along deserts and arid mountains.
"A kilometer of road in (the Mexican states) of Zacatecas or in Michoacan will do more than a kilometer of wall in (the US states) of Texas or Arizona to reduce migration, and we must understand this on both sides of the border."
He said he would do his part by ensuring Mexico becomes a competitive economy, and would seek investments in the oil sector, particularly to build refineries and conduct deep-water oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.
The next president will have to deal with a divided Congress, after the PAN got the most votes for the House and the Senate but fell well short of an outright majority.
Obrador Alleges Chicanery in Mexican Vote
Mark Stevenson - Associated Press
Leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador urged his supporters to take to the streets Saturday, claiming the governing party stole its victory in a close election that he said was more fraudulent than those held during 71 years of one-party rule.
The protests could mark a turning point in what has so far been a peaceful campaign to succeed Vicente Fox.
In a meeting with foreign correspondents, Lopez Obrador said there were more irregularities in Sunday's balloting than in elections under the Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI, which ruled Mexico until it was ousted by Fox in 2000.
Election officials say Felipe Calderon of Fox's conservative National Action Party beat Lopez Obrador by less than 244,000 votes out of a total of 41 million ballots.
"The National Action Party learned from the fraudulent practices of the PRI and it exceeded them," Lopez Obrador said.
Lopez Obrador, of the Democratic Revolution Party, asked protesters to be peaceful during a demonstration Saturday afternoon, but he warned the government would be responsible for any angry flare-ups because officials rejected his demand for a manual recount of Sunday's vote.
His conservative rival, Felipe Calderon, meanwhile, acted as if his victory was secure and took a congratulatory call from President Bush on Friday.
Mexico's top election court has yet to name a president-elect because it must first weigh complaints of illegal campaign practices and certify the vote count.
Lopez Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor, has millions of extremely devoted followers and views street protests as an effective means of pressuring the government and the courts. He claims hundreds of thousands of votes for him remain uncounted, miscounted or voided, and that a manual recount would confirm that.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City urged Americans "to avoid downtown Mexico City and surrounding areas" during the protest, noting foreigners are prohibited by law from political activity here and that "even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and escalate into violence."
Calderon won by a margin of 0.6 percent, according to a final tally announced Thursday. Electoral authorities say the law allows a manual recount only in polling places where credible evidence of irregularities exist.
Lopez Obrador's supporters say that exception applies to at least 50,000 of the approximately 130,000 polling places. But they want all the ballot boxes opened.
"Those who oppose clearing up these election results are the ones who could start to generate unrest and discontent," said Alberto Anaya, a leader of Lopez Obrador's coalition.
Election monitors from the European Union said they found no irregularities in the final count. The team leader, Jose Ignacio Salafranca, said it could do a new review after the legal period for parties to contend the results was finished.
The parties have until Monday to file complaints with the seven-judge court, which can order investigations of the evidence, change the official results and even order new elections. The tribunal has until Sept. 6 to certify the winner, and its decision is final. The new president takes office Dec. 1.
Cheerful and confident in a meeting with foreign reporters Friday, Calderon said he would support immigration reforms in Washington and create relief programs to help Mexican farmers hurt when a clause under the North American Free Trade Agreement allows for U.S. corn and bean imports in 2008.
While violent protests appear unlikely, the odds are Lopez Obrador will never recognize Calderon's victory.
"The message that he's sending is, 'They wouldn't let me win,' that the umpire was unfair, that the government was unfair," political analyst Oscar Aguilar said.
"He will never concede defeat. Once the election results are certified, he will open a permanent campaign of criticizing the government."
Lopez Obrador's campaign coordinator, Ricardo Monreal, pledged that "we will do everything peacefully and in accordance with the law." But the former mayor has, in the past, headed disruptive protests.
Last year, he led huge street protests that forced Fox to fire his attorney general and drop a legal case that would have kept Lopez Obrador out of the presidential race for ignoring a judge's order.
In 1996, he led farmers and fishermen in sometimes violent takeovers of state-owned oil wells to demand compensation for damages from an oil spill.
In 1995, when he raised accusations of fraud in Tabasco state elections, he led months of road caravans and marches and set up a protest camp in Mexico City's main square.
But these days, Lopez Obrador must walk a tightrope: If he appears too radical, he risks hurting his party and its chances in the next presidential elections in 2012. If he appears too moderate, he risks disappointing his core supporters.
"His political stock would increase greatly for 2012" if he found a way to concede defeat gracefully, Aguilar said. |
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