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Mexican Left seething over vote count
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's left, still smarting from a 1988 presidential vote it says was stolen from it, Conservative candidate Felipe Calderon claimed victory in Sunday's hard-fought presidential election and official returns appeared to show anti-poverty campaigner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador would be unable to catch him. Harvard-educated Calderon held a one-point lead over former Indian welfare officer Lopez Obrador on Monday with returns in from almost 98 percent of polling stations. A top electoral official said a recount this week was unlikely to change that. Leaders of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, were to meet Lopez Obrador to try to rescue his attempt to become president and join the ranks of leftist leaders in Latin America. A tiny group of defiant Lopez Obrador supporters gathered outside his campaign headquarters. Many said their candidate, the former mayor of Mexico City, had been cheated of victory by fraud. "He won more points that Calderon," said retired factory worker Arturo Jimenez, 74. "He lost, but unfairly. There was sleight of hand involved," said office cleaner Carmen Sanchez. No candidate has claimed to have evidence of vote-rigging in the election, which the Federal Electoral Institute said was too close to call yet. Mexico City was quiet on Monday, except for a small student protest outside the electoral authority's office. Posted by: Steve White 2006-07-04 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=158165 |