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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | July 2006 
Mexico's Calderon Plans Transition
 Will Weissert - Associated Press
| | "We have begun working toward the transition between the administration headed by President Vicente Fox and the administration I will have the honor of leading starting Dec. 1," Calderon said. |
Mexico's presumptive president-elect began forming his transition team Tuesday and announced plans for a victory lap through Mexico, while his opponent finished filing a legal challenge alleging election fraud.
With both ruling-party candidate Felipe Calderon and his leftist rival Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador claiming they won the closest presidential race in Mexican history, the struggle for the hearts and minds of the country stretched from foreign embassies to dueling news conferences.
Calderon asked his campaign director Josefina Vazquez Mota to reach out to other political parties and help build a coalition government.
"We have begun working toward the transition between the administration headed by President Vicente Fox and the administration I will have the honor of leading starting Dec. 1," Calderon said.
Calderon said he had spoken with governors from most of Mexico's 31 states since the July 2 election. He said his National Action Party would finance his nationwide tour to build unity after the divisive results, which split Mexico between the poor south and the industrialized north.
He shrugged off fears his presence could provoke a violent reaction in Lopez Obrador strongholds.
"I will tour the country, first in my role as winner of the election, which I won in part because of the votes of those states in the south," said Calderon, who spoke in front of a newly designed presidential-style logo featuring his name and the red, white, and green of Mexico's flag. "I will build a climate of reconciliation."
Meanwhile, a legal team for Lopez Obrador finished handing over boxes of videos, documents and recordings that it said showed that fraud and illegal campaigning had given Calderon a razor-thin advantage of fewer than 244,000 votes out of more than 41 million cast.
Lopez Obrador presented a video Monday of a man allegedly stuffing a ballot box with votes. Electoral authorities said the tape actually showed a poll worker redepositing votes that had been placed in the incorrect box.
Lopez Obrador campaign adviser Manuel Camacho Solis said the party should have been more careful in selecting its evidence of fraud.
The leftist candidate's supporters plan to march on the capital, starting with protests in outlying cities Wednesday and culminating with a mass demonstration in Mexico City on Sunday. They also sent representatives to foreign embassies in Mexico City, warning them against congratulating Calderon.
Leaders around the world, including President Bush, have congratulated Calderon, even though Mexico's Federal Electoral Tribunal must rule on appeals of election irregularities before declaring a president-elect. A decision must come before Sept. 6. The tribunal has overturned past gubernatorial elections because the state's ruling party allegedly interfered with them.
On Tuesday, the presidents of El Salvador and Panama congratulated Calderon on Tuesday and he said he spoke at length with Antonio Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angeles.
A decision must come before Sept. 6. The tribunal has overturned gubernatorial elections in the past because the state's ruling party allegedly interfered.
Lopez Obrador supporters have plastered homes throughout Mexico City with banners, bumper stickers and posters proclaiming, "No to fraud! Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is president." E-mails also call on people to flood the electoral court's Web site with messages demanding a ballot-by-ballot, manual recount.
Many in the capital follow the former Mexico City mayor with near-religious zeal. Some left lit votive candles for him on their window ledges, a practice normally reserved for saints.
"The people have no doubt, the president is Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador," said retired waiter Carlos Manuel Ruiz Galeana, 72, as he surveyed the votive offerings and scrawled, hand-lettered signs of support taped outside the leftist's campaign headquarters.
Associated Press writer Mark Stevenson contributed to this report. |
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