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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | July 2006 
Presidential Dispute Splits Mexico City
 Mark Stevenson - Associated Press
| | Armando Romero, artist and supporter of Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), helps to repair his poster in Mexico City July 20, 2006. The supporters were protesting against Calderon's July 2 election victory, which they say was riddled with fraud. (Reuters/Henry Romero) |
Scuffles, vandalism and angry accusations by supporters of Mexico's two presidential rivals forced politicians to appeal for calm to prevent the country's election dispute from erupting into violence.
Leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has called on his backers to mount a civil resistance campaign against what they claim is vote fraud that helped his conservative Felipe Calderon win the July 2 vote.
Calderon was harassed on Tuesday by a knot of leftists who banged on his car and screamed "pig" at him. In turn, the conservative and his staff on Wednesday touted support from a purported union "leader" who doesn't appear to hold any post.
Calderon's campaign introduced Gaston Saenz as a top adviser of the Electrical Workers Union, and stood by smiling as Saenz pronounced the election clean.
But union chief of staff Enrique Bernal later said Saenz was a retired member of the union, and that he currently held no post. Calderon's campaign did not issue a formal response to the union's claim and a spokeswoman was not immediately available for further comment.
Earlier Wednesday a pro-Lopez Obrador art display was vandalized at a downtown park, and local media reported that cars bearing bumper stickers in favor of both candidates had been vandalized. A group of Lopez Obrador protested briefly in the capital's historic downtown.
"We shouldn't get into a situation of violence," said Enrique Cuevas, the host of a news program for the Formato 21 radio station. "We are falling to a low political level that isn't going to lead us anywhere."
An official tally gave Calderon a 244,000-vote advantage, a margin of less than 0.6 percent of the total vote in the July 2 race. Lopez Obrador has challenged the outcome in Mexico's top electoral court, which must rule on appeals by Aug. 31 and declare a president-elect by Sept. 6.
Facing weeks of indecision, Lopez Obrador's followers on Tuesday launched what they promised would be a peaceful civil resistance campaign.
Lopez Obrador claims a combination of ballot-stuffing, campaign overspending and support from government and business groups tipped the race to Calderon. He has filed a legal challenge demanding a ballot-by-ballot recount.
Local media reported late Wednesday that electoral officials had conducted a recount at about 2 percent of polling places that showed relatively untrained polling officials made mathematical errors that inflated totals for all candidates.
The recounts — which were conducted three days after the election at polling places where Lopez Obrador claimed fraud had bolstered Calderon's vote total — yielded new totals that favored Calderon, appearing to undermine one of the leftist's justifications for demanding a nationwide manual recount.
Even Mexico City's mayor — who has drawn criticism for covering the historic city government building in pro-Lopez Obrador banners — felt moved to criticize Tuesday's harassment of Calderon.
"The city government clearly condemns this kind of act," said Mayor Alejandro Encinas. "This is not the way to solve these controversies."
Following the incident in the city center — a stronghold of Lopez Obrador support — Calderon held all three of his Wednesday events in the city's wealthier southern district, where his support is markedly stronger.
Calderon's aides hedged on whether they were avoiding the city center, but called for local officials — loyal to Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party — to exercise better control in Mexico City.
The Mexican nonprofit civic organization Unidos Por Mexico, or "United For Mexico," said a petition it posted online asking Lopez Obrador to give up his fight had been signed by more than 27,000 Mexicans.
"You are giving us a horrible image abroad," the petition read. "Mr. Lopez, history and we should admire you as a leader who knew how to recognize his mistakes, not as the stubborn, paranoid man that you appear to be now."
On the Net: http://www.petitiononline.com/amlo2006/petition.html |
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