 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | June 2006 
No Danger of Instability at Mexico Polls, says Calderon
 Alistair Bell - Reuters
| | “What Lopez Obrador said about me giving contracts is a lie, a big lie and someone who lies is a liar.” |
Aguascalientes, Mexico – A close-run presidential election next month will not plunge Mexico into political instability, despite a nasty campaign and fears the left may launch protests if it loses, a top candidate said.
Mexico's stock exchange has dropped this week partly due to concerns that the July 2 election may cause gridlock.
But conservative Felipe Calderon, who is running neck and neck for first place with a leftist in opinion polls, told Reuters Mexicans were too politically mature to allow upheaval.
“There is a very mature electorate, a very well informed and critical electorate whose knowledge of political culture is such that any attempt to put obstacles in the way of the electoral process is going to fail,” he said Thursday.
Calderon and his main rival Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexico City's leftist former mayor, have attacked each other harshly in campaign rallies and TV spots.
Anxiety grew Tuesday when unknown gunmen attacked the family of a jailed businessman who had threatened to reveal videos damaging to Lopez Obrador. No one was wounded.
Calderon told Reuters on his campaign bus that even though Mexico only put an end to one-party rule in 2000, its democracy was healthy.
“It has a very active political life, three strong parties, plurality in local and municipal government. It's an electorate that is very well trained, politically speaking,” he said near the town of Aguascalientes, home to a Nissan car plant.
Rival party leaders have been meeting in the last few days to work out an agreement that they will all recognize the winner on July 2, in an effort to decrease tension.
One scenario that scares foreign investors is that Lopez Obrador might lose by a small margin, claim fraud and send supporters out onto the streets in mass protests.
VETERAN DEMONSTRATOR
Lopez Obrador, of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, is an experienced demonstrator who once walked 560 miles to Mexico City to protest a state governor's election he said was robbed from him by the formerly dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party.
Calderon said Lopez Obrador would be unable to persuade voters to change the presidential election result if he tried.
“The votes of 71 million Mexicans can't be canceled or manipulated by the immaturity and capriciousness of a few,” he said. Mexico has 71 million registered voters.
The conservative's campaign has been under a cloud in the last two days after accusations by Lopez Obrador that his businessman brother-in-law evaded taxes and received government contracts while Calderon was energy minister after President Vicente Fox came to power in 2000.
Calderon denied pushing government work the way of any relative and said it was up to his brother-in-law, and not him, to answer the tax allegation.
“What Lopez Obrador said about me giving contracts is a lie, a big lie and someone who lies is a liar,” he said. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us