MEXICO: Mexico's top electoral court throws out leftists' allegations of massive fraud in last month's presidential election

Record ID: 303568

  • Title: MEXICO: Mexico's top electoral court throws out leftists' allegations of massive fraud in last month's presidential election
  • Date: 29th August 2006
  • Summary: (LATIN) MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (AUGUST 28, 2006) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF COURT PARTY REPRESENTATIVES ARRIVING AT COURT CAMEMAN
  • Embargoed: 13th September 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAHZOYHAOTYZ47LT29CXYXSL7J
  • Story Text: Mexico's top electoral court threw out leftists' allegations of massive fraud in last month's presidential election on Monday (August 28), handing almost certain victory to conservative candidate Felipe Calderon.
    The seven judges voted unanimously to reject most of the legal complaints by left-wing candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who said he was robbed of victory in the July 2 vote.
    "We can say to the citizens that today the votes are counted and remain definite and we will proceed with great care and scrupulousness to the next phase which is the final computation and the declaration of validity in this case," said Judge Fernando Ojesto.
    Lopez Obrador's supporters have paralysed Mexico City with protests this month and he has vowed to make Mexico ungovernable if the court declares Calderon the winner of the country's most bitterly contested election in modern history.
    The initial result showed Calderon, a former energy minister from the ruling National Action Party, won the election by just 0.58 of a percentage point or 244,000 votes,
    The judges fell short of formally naming Calderon the winner but they said there were only marginal changes to the original results after recounts and annulments at some of the most fiercely contested polling stations.
    The judges, whose rulings are final and cannot be appealed, must declare a president-elect by September 6.
    Calderon appeared cautious, but happy with the ruling.
    "It satisfies me enormously this clear result. I want to be very cautious. I know that the court will still have to deliberate about the validity of the election but we are going down a good road," he said.
    The Mexican peso firmed 0.85 percent to 10.88 per dollar as investors were convinced that pro-business Calderon will now take over from President Vicente Fox on December 1.
    The election split Mexico between left and right and is the most serious challenge to its democracy since Fox's election victory six years ago ended seven decades of one-party rule.
    Lopez Obrador says there were serious irregularities at more than half the polling stations. He has demanded a full recount of all 41 million votes cast and has launched street protests that have shut down central Mexico City.
    If Calderon's victory is confirmed by the court, Lopez Obrador says he will either lead a civil resistance movement against his rival or set up some kind of parallel government.
    The court annulled results from scores of polling stations after a partial recount earlier this month because of irregularities but there was no sign of huge fraud, the judges said.
    The leftist, who has vowed to overhaul economic policies to put the poor first, insists he will not give up. Some 50 supporters marched through the Zocalo with a fake coffin, marked "Democracy"
    The electoral court this month ordered a recount at just 9 percent of the polling stations. It failed to end the dispute as Lopez Obrador says the exercise proved many ballot boxes were tampered with. He says almost 200,000 votes disappeared from some or were discovered in others.
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