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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2006 
Mexican President-Elect Wants Votes Kept
 Will Weissert - Associated Press
| | Mexican President-elect, Felipe Calderon, asked electoral officials Tuesday not to destroy the ballots from the disputed July 2 election, arguing that saving them will boost public confidence in the vote. (AP/Eduardo Verdugo) |
The two rivals in Mexico's disputed presidential election agree on one thing: Ballots from the closest race ever shouldn't be destroyed, despite laws calling for them to be burned. But it's unclear if electoral officials can ignore the law and save the closely scrutinized paper votes.
President-elect Felipe Calderon, who was declared the winner by a margin of less than 0.6 percent last week, asked electoral officials Tuesday not to destroy the ballots from the disputed July 2 election.
In a letter to the Federal Electoral Institute's chairman, Luis Carlos Ugalde, Calderon wrote that saving the ballots would guarantee "citizen certainty and confidence in Mexican institutions."
Mexican law requires the ballots to be destroyed before Calderon replaces President Vicente Fox on Dec. 1, but the institute's governing council could decide to postpone the destruction. The institute, also known as IFE, has not set a date to burn the ballots.
Leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador also has asked that the ballots be spared from the flames, claiming fraud and meddling by Fox robbed him of the election.
Fox and Calderon are both members of the National Action Party, and Calderon served as the outgoing president's energy secretary — though he quit after nine months in 2004, when Fox chided him for talking publicly about running for president too soon before the election.
Saving the ballots likely won't help Lopez Obrador's case. The Federal Electoral Tribunal rejected most of his complaints and his demand for a full vote recount, and awarded the presidency to Calderon. Its decision cannot be appealed.
Despite the court's final decision, Gerardo Fernandez, spokesman for Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party, said Tuesday that electoral officials should recount the ballots before destroying them to erase doubt about the elections.
"If Calderon comes out on top in a recount then this will all be over," Fernandez said.
Thousands of Lopez Orador supporters have set up a protest camp in the heart of Mexico City. They say they won't recognize Calderon's victory and plan to create their own parallel government this weekend during an assembly led by Lopez Obrador.
Also Tuesday, top Calderon adviser Josefina Vazquez Mota announced that Calderon had named Cesar Nava, National Action's general-secretary, as his personal secretary. Calderon has yet to announce any of his Cabinet members.
Calderon met with university leaders from across Mexico at his transition headquarters in Mexico City later in the day, but did not mention his letter to the IFE's chairman.
"Poverty restricts access to higher education and a lack of access to higher education makes problems of inequality and poverty worse," Calderon said. "We have to break this vicious cycle and provide young people alternative financing and funding based on their economic realities."
Fox's spokesman, Ruben Aguilar, said Calderon's transition team met Monday with members of Fox's administration, and will do so every Monday until Calderon takes office to ensure the handover goes smoothly.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Monday night to congratulate Calderon. |
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