 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | August 2006 
Calderon Win Upheld by Partial Vote Recount, Mexico Parties Say
 Bloomberg
| | Conservative presidential candidate Felipe Calderon of the National Action Party speaks during a meeting with leaders in the maquila industry in Mexico City, Mexico, Friday, Aug. 11, 2006. (AP/Gregory Bull) |
Felipe Calderon's victory in Mexico's presidential election was upheld in a court-ordered partial recount of the vote, according to representatives of his governing party and of rival Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
The two sides reported different numbers yesterday that result in the same outcome. Calderon's margin of victory was 243,934 votes out of the 40.9 million valid votes cast July 2, and won't change by more than 1,500 votes following the recount, said his party's chief lawyer, Cesar Nava. Calderon lost 13,676 votes while Lopez Obrador gained about 200, said Claudia Sheinbaum, a spokeswoman for Lopez Obrador's coalition.
The federal electoral court, which ordered the partial review in response to a complaint by Lopez Obrador, said it won't make the results public until its next ruling.
Lopez Obrador, 52, said the recount showed evidence of fraud and called on supporters to prepare for more street protests over the next month to demand a full review of ballots.
"We're ready to protest for as long as it takes," Lopez Obrador told thousands of cheering supporters in downtown Mexico City yesterday. "We won't accept an illegitimate government."
His coalition will file a new petition asking the electoral court to annul the ballots from 7,542 polling places, or 64 percent of the stations that underwent a review, Sheinbaum said in a telephone interview from Mexico City. Nava, Calderon's lawyer, said during a news conference the law doesn't allow for such a request to be met.
Calderon's Nation Action Party was unable to provide a precise tally for the recount because about 10,000 ballots were considered "questionable" during the review and must be analyzed by the electoral court, Nava said.
Platforms
Calderon, a 43-year-old former energy minister under President Vicente Fox, pledged to keep inflation in check and lure investment during his campaign. Lopez Obrador promised to boost government spending on infrastructure projects and provide stipends to single mothers and the elderly.
Lopez Obrador asked followers to stage four demonstrations over the next month, including protests against any decision by court naming Calderon as the winner and against President Vicente Fox's annual address to the nation Sept. 1.
The protests would add to weeks of continued acts of civil disobedience, including a two-week blockade of Mexico City's main avenue for an indefinite period of time and daily demonstrations to obstruct the entrance of business buildings such as the Mexican Stock Exchange and the headquarters of HSBC Holdings plc and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA.
The electoral court has until Aug. 31 to settle all challenges and must declare a winner by Sept. 6. The ruling cannot be appealed. The new president takes office Dec. 1.
Response
Lopez Obrador said the partial recount of 9 percent of the nation's polling places showed about 80,000 ballots missing, broken seals in ballot boxes and 45,000 ballots without a corresponding registered voter.
"If one extrapolates this to a national level, we're talking about 1 million votes," he said. "This is absolutely unacceptable. We insist that the election wasn't clean."
Nava said the recount showed the election was clean and that missing ballots and added ballots were fruit of Lopez Obrador's "imagination."
Lopez Obrador called on supporters to gather at Mexico City's main square on Sept. 15 to commemorate Mexico's independence from Spain.
He said the future of his "role in Mexican politics over the medium and long runs" would be decided during a rally the following day in Mexico City.
To contact the reporter on this story: Adriana Arai in Mexico City at Aarai1@bloomberg.net |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us