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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | July 2006 
Obrador Calls for Civil Resistance
 AFP
| | Leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador(C), of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, greets supporters during a massive march in Mexico City. Obrador urged hundreds of thousands of his supporters jamming downtown Mexico City to demand a recount of the presidential vote through acts of civil disobedience.(AFP/Luis Acosta) |
Leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador urged hundreds of thousands of his supporters jamming downtown Mexico City to demand a recount of a July 2 presidential vote through acts of civil disobedience.
"I propose acts of civil resistance this week," Obrador told the roaring crowd.
"Citizen committees will determine which actions under which circumstances are practical," he said without saying concretely what actions he had in mind.
With police estimating the crowd at 800,000, the candidate called the vast demonstration the "largest ever assembled in Mexican history."
Supporters had travelled to the Mexican capital from across the country to attend the protest and thousands had camped out over the weekend in the city's historic center.
Lopez Obrador narrowly lost the July 2 vote won by Felipe Calderon, and he has alleged election fraud and demanded a recount.
"Fully repudiate the election fraud," Lopez Obrador's followers chanted in support of the candidate, who lost the election to conservative Calderon by some 244,000 votes -- little more than half a percent of the 41.7 million ballots cast.
Lopez Obrador launched an official challenge to the vote tally one week ago, submitting videos and other documents to the Federal Election Tribunal, which purportedly prove ballot-box stuffing and other cheating that he claims swung the election to his opponent.
Earlier police estimates had put the strength of Sunday's protests at around 320,000 in the Zocalo square of Mexico City.
Lopez Obrador is the former mayor of the city that is still run by his partisans.
The marchers chanted "No to another '88", evoking the fraud-marred 1988 presidential election in which leftist Cuauhtemoc Cardenas lost to Carlos Salinas.
Having agreed to hear Lopez Obrador's case, the election tribunal now has until September 6 to issue a final ruling on some 220 cases his leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution has submitted.
UN and EU observers pronounced the election free and fair.
Lopez Obrador called for another demonstration in two weeks on July 30, promising to double the number of protesters.
"We will use civil resistance to defend democracy," he said.
Official election results handed conservative National Action Party candidate Calderon the July 2 election by 240,000 votes, or 0.58 percent of votes cast.
The declared winner is due to begin his six-year term on December 1.
Some 800,000 Protesters Rally for Mexico Vote
AFP
Some 800,000 supporters of presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador marched through Mexico City in support of a recount of the July 2 vote won by Felipe Calderon, according to police estimates.
"Fully repudiate the election fraud," Lopez Obrador's followers chanted in support of the leftist candidate, who lost the election to conservative Calderon by some 244,000 votes -- little more than half a percent of the 41.7 million ballots cast.
Lopez Obrador, who led Sunday's protest, launched an official challenge to the vote tally one week ago, submitting videos and other documents to the Federal Election Tribunal which purportedly prove ballot-box stuffing and other cheating that he claims swung the election to his opponent.
Earlier estimates had put the strength of Sunday's protests at around 320,000, before the latest statistics were released.
The marchers chanted "No to another '88", evoking the fraud-marred 1988 presidential election in which leftist Cuauhtemoc Cardenas lost to Carlos Salinas.
Having agreed to hear Lopez Obrador's case, the election tribunal now has until September 6 to issue a final ruling. |
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