 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | July 2006 
Obrador Submits Videos to Back Call for Vote Recount
 AFP
| | Mexican Presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) holds a document to point out what according to him were electoral irregularities, that would prove electoral fraud in the past 02 July national elections, at the party' s headquaters building in Mexico City. Lopez Obrador will challenge the outcome of Mexico´s presidential election in court and demands a recount of the ballots. (AFP) |
Leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador alleged he has "irrefutable" videotape evidence of fraud in last week's presidential balloting, and renewed his call for a recount in the election won by conservative Felipe Calderon.
The former mayor of Mexico City launched an official challenge to the July 2 election late Sunday, after losing to Calderon by some 244,000 votes - little more than half a percent of the 41.7 million ballots cast.
A screening of the videotapes showed one person stuffing six allegedly pro-Calderon ballots into a ballot box in Guanajato, the home state of current President Vicente Fox and a strong base for Calderon's National Action Party (PAN).
A second videotape, according to Lopez Obrador, shows election scrutineers and PAN party representatives discussion a possible recount, after noting there were more ballots cast than registered voters.
"This is irrefutable proof of general fraud in all the states, especially in the north," Lopez Obrador said, referring to the region which voted mostly in favor of Calderon.
There was no independent verification of the leftist politician's claims about the content of the videos, which he produced one day after formally lodging a protest with the election tribunal claiming the voting was riddled with mistakes, abuses and other problems at 50,300 voting sites.
His Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) presented a 900-page document along with notarized witness accounts, video recordings and other information to support their allegations.
Lopez Obrador also alleged that Fox illegally campaigned in favor of Calderon, and that Calderon's ruling party far exceeded campaign spending limits, and that the party bought votes.
"We are not going to recognize Calderon's triumph if it is not legitimized by a vote-by-vote recount," said Gerardo Fernandez, a PRD spokesman.
Fox's spokesman Ruben Aguilar said Monday that Lopez Obrador's complaints will be considered by the Federal Electoral Tribunal.
"It is up to the electoral authorities to analyze the demands and observations about the elections process and also up to them ... to give a response," Aguilar said.
But Mexico's top election judge said in an interview before the vote but only published Sunday that a full recount is both impractical and illegal.
"It is not legally valid to unpack the votes and do a recount," Leonel Castillo, who presides over the tribunal, told the weekly Milenio Semanal.
Castillo however said that partial results by polling booths could be questioned, in which case officials would carry out a recount at specific sites.
PRD officials have said they also plan to take the case to Mexico's Supreme Court, which can issue recommendations to the tribunal, the final arbiter of electoral disputes. The tribunal has until September 6 to issue a ruling.
On Saturday, a massive crowd of disappointed Lopez Obrador supporters protested Calderon's victory in central Mexico City.
PRD officials have also called for a series of nationwide protests starting Wednesday, including a march from the country's 300 electoral districts to the capital.
The planned wave of protests have a precedent in the 1988 presidential election, when leftist candidate Cuauhtemoc Cardenas was running ahead in the vote count.
After the computerized vote counting system mysteriously crashed, Carlos Salinas de Gortari from the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) suddenly was found to be ahead in the vote, count and eventually was declared the winner. Cardenas followers held nationwide protests for weeks.
Likewise, Lopez Obrador himself was allegedly the victim of vote fraud in 1994, when he failed in his bid to become governor of his home state of Tabasco, in an election marred by alleged vote buying. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us