Mexico recount limited
Published 9:00 pm Saturday, August 5, 2006
MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s top electoral court on Saturday rejected a full recount in the disputed presidential election, ordering a partial count instead, angering leftist protesters camped in the capital demanding a new vote-by-vote tally over their fraud allegations.
Dozens of supporters of candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador pushed against the gate of the Federal Electoral Tribunal as its session ended, chanting: “If there is no solution, there will be a revolution!” One forced his way through, waving a Mexican flag and yelling “Bandits!”
In Mexico City’s central plaza, where thousands of protesters have been camped out for a week demanding a new count of the July 2 election, chants of “vote-by-vote” drowned out the judges’ statements as the session was broadcast live on a large TV screen.
“This is very bad. It’s a total fraud,” said Edelbira Cervantes, a 46-year-old government employee. “The people will solve this problem in their own way.”
In a speech late Saturday, Lopez Obrador urged supporters to remain calm and fortify protest camps that have blocked Mexico City’s main Reforma Avenue and Zocalo Square, snarling traffic for a week.
“We are going to continue our peaceful, civil resistance movement,” he said, adding that the tribunal’s judges were “legally weak.”
The recount will begin Wednesday and was expected to last five days. The number of votes cast varied from one polling station to the next so it was not clear what percentage of the total of more than 41 million votes would be recounted.
German Martinez, a legal aide to ruling party candidate Felipe Calderon, applauded the ruling, saying the judges “made the correct decision.” An official count gave Calderon an advantage of less than 0.6 percent, or about 240,000 votes.
The court has until Sept. 6 to declare a president-elect or annul the elections.
Lopez Obrador said fraud and dirty campaign practices resulted in his rival’s slim margin, arguing that a full recount would show that he won and threatening intensified protests if officials order anything less.
Associated Press
Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador acknowledges supporters Saturday in Mexico City’s Zocalo plaza. Lopez Obrador urged followers to remain peaceful.
