This article used "Reforma" newspaper as it's basis and fact page. This is a huge mistake and contrary to reality. Reforma is similar to the Wall Street Journal, which as we remember during the 2000 election in the U.S., was obviously siding with the Bush camp and pushing to end the recount process. Mexico's electoral history is much different than ours and this article didn't elaborate on that enough. The successors in Mexico used to be chosen by the "dedeso", the finger. The reigning president would literally point to his successor. In 1988 the PRD obviously won the vote by a massive amount but fraud prevented the progressive candidate, Cuahtemac Cardenas, from winning. Poverty in Mexico is nothing like we have in the US. For anyone who has visited Mexico outside of it's resort towns and in the rural areas, life is similar to other Latin American countries. Obviously, Miss Connoly has not been outside of Cabo San Lucas and prefers to get her information from La Reforma. Try doing your own work and doing a little history check. Mexico has been aching for a left leaning progressive candidate since 1917. They are also used to elections being stolen. There is much more to this story than comparing it to the 2000 election in our own country.

As an American visiting Mexico who has closely been following this election, it is scary how closely the rhetoric of the right-wing National Action Party of Felipe Calderón resembles that of George Bush. Like George, he excessively used sports analogies in his campaign, as if politics is just another football game. In this strongly Catholic country, he also played on people's religious feelings. He continually trotted out his wife and kids to emphasize that he was a "family" man as opposed to his adversary, López Obrador, who is presently unmarried. He said he had the "brazo fuerte" or strong arm of God on his side. Even the way he appears to have won this election resembles the way Bush won his 2000 election--in an extremely tight race in which he opposed the recount of votes, which Obrador is insisting upon. I am sure the Mexican country club set, which Calderón represents, always counts their bills at the bank at least two or three times. But then, we're talking about money, and here it's just the will of the people!
God help us! Now there's a baby Bush on the other side of the border!

To those who say that AMLO should take fraud lying down for the good of stability, etc, there's one thing I have to say.

If it's good enough for Yushchenko,
It's good enough for AMLO.

The double-standards are amazing. Had Ukrainian forces shot the protesters you would have called for the bombers, but you'll be cheering if Mexican forces gun down hundreds, if they think it's necessary.

Let's not forget the fact that in Belarus, Lukashenko's assets (such as they are) in the US were frozen because of an election deemed fraudulent, and why? One-sided media coverage of the campaign, supposedly. Well, everyone concedes that this was the case in Mexico. Why not freeze Calderon's and Fox's US assets, just to be fair.

Deux poids, deux mesures.

But how is Halliburton involved? They have to be involved. Doesn't every conspiracy involve Halliburton. BTW, this is a MEXICAN election, not American or European and certainally not French. Stay focused people. A Que Saber Perder!

The simple fact is that there is a half a percentage point between these two. (Which is a compelling reason for a future law providing for runoffs, when no one has 50%) Assuming for a moment that EVERYTHING AMLO says about fraud and manipulation is true, the numbers might move half a point to his favor. Of course, then Calderon will start screaming about numbers in places like Tabasco and other PRD controlled states. And it might move back by half a point.
At the end of the day, it was a very close election and someone is going to have to lose. If AMLO has proof (proof, not wild unfounded accusations, remember his comment about a "500,000 vote" lead on election night. Based on what?) then let the TRIFE rule on it. But, until that happens, by organizing street protests etc, he is only setting himself up for a fall.

Illegal Aliens damage in the USA....Maybe they should go to Mexico to protest for their rights instead of Invading the USA & Protesting if Mexico is so Great go there to change the Corruption instead of bringing Mexico here to the USA!

62% of all "undocumented immigrants" in the United States are working for cash and not paying taxes, predominantly illegal aliens, working without a green card;

95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens;

83% of warrants for murder in Phoenix are for illegal aliens;

86% of warrants for murder in Albuquerque are for illegal aliens;

75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Albuquerque are illegal aliens;

More than 380,000 "anchor babies" were born in the United States in 2005 were to parents who are illegal aliens; making those 380,000 babies automatically U.S. citizens. 97.2% of all costs incurred from those births were paid by the American taxpayer;

More than 66% of all births in California are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by taxpayers;

24.9% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally;

40.1% of all inmates in Arizona detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally;

48.2% of all inmates in New Mexico detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally;

29% (6 30,000) convicted illegal alien felons fill our state and federal prisons at a cost of $1.6 billion annually;

More than 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages;

More than 53% of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Texas are perpetrated by illegal aliens;

More than half of all gang members in Los Angeles are illegal aliens from south of the border;

More than 43% of all Food Stamps issued are to illegal aliens;

More than 41% of all unemployment checks issued in the United States are to illegal aliens;

58% of all Welfare payments in the United States are issued to illegal ali ens;

Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties in the United States are illegal aliens;

14 out of 31 TV stations in L.A. are Spanish-only;

16 out of 28 TV stations in Phoenix are Spanish-only;

15 out of 24 TV stations in Albuquerque are Spanish-only;

21 radio stations in L.A. are Spanish-only;

17 radio stations in Phoenix are Spanish-only;

17 radio stations in Albuquerque are Spanish-only;

More than 34% of Arizona students in grades 1-12 are illegal aliens;

More than 24% of Arizona students in grades 1-12 are non-English-speaking;

More than 39% of California students in grades 1-12 are illegal aliens;

More than 42% of California students in grades 1-12 are non-English-speaking;

In Los Angeles County, 5.1 million people speak English; 3.9 million speak Spanish;

More than 71% of all apprehended cars stolen in 2005 in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California were stolen by illegal aliens or transport "coyotes";

47% of cited/stopped drivers in California have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 47%, 92% are illegal aliens;

63% of cited/stopped drivers in Arizona have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 63%, 97% are illegal aliens;

66% of cited/stopped drivers in New Mexico have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 66%, 98% are illegal aliens;

Less than 2% of illegal aliens in the United States are picking crops, but 41% are on welfare;

Over 70% of the United States annual population growth (and over 90% of California, Florida, and New York) results from immigration;

The cost of immigration to the American taxpayer in 1997 was a NET (after subtracting taxes immigrants pay) $70 BILLION a year, [Professor Donald Huddle, Rice University];

The estimated profit to U.S. corporations and businesses employing illegal aliens in 2005 was more than $2.36 TRILLION dollars;

The lifetime fiscal impact (taxes paid minus services used) for the average adult Mexican illegal alien is $55,000.00 cost to the American taxpayer in a 5-year span.

If New Jersey & other States did not have to Support the Illegal Invaders from Mexico, Property Taxes & other Taxes could be reduced all across the Nation!

When Illegal Aliens are deported to their own countries:

1. Our budget deficit will decrease by Billions & our tax receipts will increase by billions
3. Our crime & cost, both in money and human suffering will take a Hugh drop down
4. Our schools will make a great improvement in the education of our children & cost decrease
5. Innovation will increase
6. Medical care will improve and cost go down
7. Insurance cost will decrease
8. The increase in wages & the 20 billion currently going out of country now will create a large increase in demand for goods and services & new businesses and expanding business & our economy will soar
9.Even business that think they must have Slave labor to survive will find they are more profitable & new revenues & sources for profits will increase. (As Henry Ford discovered if he wanted to sell cars he must pay a livable so people could afford his cars)
10. Our standard of living will go up
11. But maybe the most important benefit will be stopping the influx of Illegal Aliens with their loyally to another Nation & hate for all things American, that if left unchecked will tear our society apart!

Che is Dead! If your "cuteness" pushes you to write in Spanish, do it right; it's "hay que saber perder." But this is a MEXICAN election; therefore, we should all be writing in Spanish (I can also make up illogical statements). The only one who has been insisting in "conspiracies" is you. Why don't you read carefully the cogent comments above and reply with something substantive, instead of with your trademark mindless non sequiturs?

I have to take issue with something that Ceci writes. She seems to imply that Elba Esther Gordillo supports AMLO; not true. Her own party, the PRI, accusses her to be too close to President Fox. She proposed, I recall, Mr. Ugalde for IFE's presidency; the sorry Mr. Ugalde, by the way, who in my opinion should resign after his pitiful performance and unfortunate comment suggesting that following the legal path is offensive to Mexican voters (namely, the attempt by AMLO to contest the election in court, a legitimate right that nobody can deny him).

Mr. Lopez Obrador has a lack of honesty and morality, he is manipulating the less educated and fed people in Mexico.

Mr. Lopez is not a democrat and has shown none respect to the law and institutions.

Mr. Obrador this election was not a complot: Over 1,000,000 mexicans counted the votes, including your representatives !!!!, good luck for the next time !!!

PS: I´m confident that Felipe Calderon will make Mexico a better place to live so our people living in US can go back sooner.

Bill Lowe, while interesting, what exactly do your comments have to do with the Mexican presidential election?

And, rather than going to the effort to deport 10 million illegals, wouldn't it be much easier to jail and confiscate ALL the assets of the 100,000 or so Americans who are hiring them illegally? With no more jobs the aliens would deport themselves.

That Ceci "Watch me fabricate some Gore quotes via careful use of elipsis" Connelly would use a right wing rag as her source material. I think we can all expect the major US media to get with the groupthink soon enough, and declare the right wing candidate who will allow us beter trade deals to be the proper winner.

amlo has the right and obligation to fight, defend every single vote. all the way.

what happens to the millons of votes that the ife president admited had not been counted? are the included in the oficial results? what about the material and ballots found in the trash? can someone explain

The non counted votes are votos nulos. They ammount to 2% of the total, which is the same percentage as in 1994 and 2000. Some people mismark their ballots.
Please source where you heard about " ballots in the trash"

It was not "millions" either, more like 900,000. Get your numbers straight.

No matter who wins (and I prefer Obregon, but what really matters is which candidate Mexican voters prefer), I am concerned about the possibility of instability in the country because it appears to be intensely divided. Also concerning is the possibility of increasing human rights violations.

Oops! I mean Obrador! But I base my remarks on having lived in a working class area of Mexico City, as well as in Central America.

Altough I still believe that Mr. Ugalde was not up to the job, Ceci got the quote wrong. Ceci's interpretation:

"López Obrador's challenge was a slap to every Mexican who voted..."

My translation of the quote:

"...questioning IFE is questioning the hundreds of thousands of Mexicans" who worked on Sunday in the election...

(words outside quotation marks seem to be the El Universal newspaper reporter's)

Nothing fishy here, I want to believe; Ceci provides the link, for anybody who reads Spanish to compare and contrast.

PAN is comprised overwhelmingly of the middle-class in Mexico. The stereotype that it is a rich person's party is outdated.

Mexicans deserve the right to verify these elections are as clean and transparent as IFE claims them to be. Whether AMLO lost or won these elections, we need to count vote by vote in order to begin trusting the system. Who can trust the system after all we have gone through in Mexico for ages?

I certainly don't want another 6 horrible years of organized crime, corruption, injustice and poverty for my country. Let alone an arrogant president like Calderon would be. I am very proud of Lopez Obrador for standing up and defending our rights. If there is anyone who goes by the law, it's Lopez Obrador.

As a Mexican who lived in the US for a long time and returned to live in my native country a long time ago, I can't but be amazed at the comments that are made by people who think they know about Mexico without having lived there. It is true that there is a lot of poverty. But, it is not product of the current Federal Administration. Most of our current situation is due to 71 years of one party rule backed by the US.

All of the opposition, including the PRD that is now claiming electoral fraud, helped to design the current voting system which in my opinion is almost foolproof. I can speak of this because I was president of a voting place in the 2000 elections and have first hand knowledge of the methodology. The PRD presidential candidate and his team are taking advantage that not all Mexicans really know how the system works to their own benefit. Of course, how we organize our elections is of little interest to foreigners so you guys believe what ever the media tells you.

I read in several American news services that Calderon won after a recount. The truth is that he won after the official tally that was conducted according to the schedule that is defined by Mexican law. Any other results (exit polls, fast count, PREP) given prior this tally are to considered only projections and have no legal validity.

Also, by law the Federal Electoral Institute's only function is to organize the elections and tally the votes. They can not declare anyone the winner. They only inform the results. The Federal Electoral Tribunal is the one that validates the legality of the elections and declares a winner. Please remember that in Mexico we elect a President by direct vote and by majority. The election can be won or lost by one vote.

These elections were very close because of polarization that the PRD and their candidate promoted. They painted every other candidate as the rich man's lackey and Lopez Obrador as the poor man's savior. In my personal opinion, Lopez Obrador is not a leftist but an opportunist. He left the PRI not because of principal but because they didn't give him the candidacy for the governorship of Tabasco. He has taken advantage of the support of Hugo Chavez and has attacked our current President in public speeches. If anyone is to blame for the lack of unity in Mexico it is he. He ran the most corrupt government in recent times in Mexico City and has blocked all efforts to make the use of funds public during his administration. His profile in your paper was probably written by his press corps and that is why it is so positive towards him.

Please, try to be objective in your account of the facts and try to understand what is happening by listening to both sides of the arguments.

In this tight of a race, for the good of the integrity of the Mexican electoral process, all of the ballots should be recounted. Since there have been discrepancies, Lopez Obrador will be able to discredit a Calderon administration and cast doubts on its legitimacy for the next 6 years if this is not done. If the ballot recount confirms Calderon as the victor, this takes that ability away from Lopez Obrador, and confirms that the electoral process is sound and transparent. How can anyone lose, unless Lopez Obrador is actually the true winner, in which case Calderon has no right to be President anyway.

This is for Karla: The votes have been counted (vote by vote) this sunday by ordinary citizens in presence of your party representatives and in presence of whomever wants to be a witness. In the recount of the acts, everybody, as a citizen,had the right to witness the recount, the representatives of your party signed the act because they were satisfied with the results in it. Not recognizing the results is not recognizing the citizens (who gave their vote to any party) who counted the votes.And sure, AMLO has defended his votes closing streets, highways and oil sources, the only instance able to open all of the boxes is the federal court, so tell your candidate to tell this to the president of the court. And I am mexican, as I think you are also, who gave his vote to Calderon. Not everybody gave his vote to peje (AMLO).

Dear Lolis,

The millions of votes that you refer to were not count in the PREP (Programa de Resultados Previos) because of inconsistencies. This program is meant to give Mexicans an idea of how the elections went and is not legally binding. All the political parties knew and had access to the database where these balloting reports were. In fact if you consulted the PREP website you could see which balloting places had discrepancies. The PRD did not discover the missing votes. They were in plain sight. They just took advantage of the fact that most of their constituency dosn have access to a computer.

For David B.

The votes have been counted by more than 1.3 million ordinary Mexicans, on election day, in the presence of representatives of the competing parties or coalitions. During the official tally, representatives of all of the parties were also present and according to Mexican law there are only 4 reasons to open and recount the ballot packages. The PRD want all of the packages opened so that they could petition the court to annul the elections. This has happened before and precisely in Tabasco. The IFE can not apply the law according to the whims of the contenders. It has to apply it in defense of the voters. All of the voters not just those of the PRD. If you don't know Mexican election law, read up and then express an informed opinion.

Tim Gonzalez:

Thanks for your thorough explanation of the electoral process; it was really unnecessary. I just want to remind you of two little FACTS:

1) It was not the PRD that ran a media campaign calling AMLO "a danger to Mexico;" adds, by the way, that were ruled defamatory by the electoral court. PAN was ordered to stop their broadcasting. In addition, I have not seen a iota of proof of the claimed support of Hugo Chavez to the PRD. Innuendo is cheap.

2) Lopez Obrador attacked the President in speeches... I'd wish to remind you of a tall politician from Guanajuato who donned fake big ears in a session of Congress to mock up the then President Salinas; his name? You guessed it: Vicente Fox. I'm surprised that having lived in the US you cry surprise with political tactics.

Antonio, you contradict yourself. On the one hand you accept the right of AMLO and the PRD to contest the election in court; on the other, you condemn them for exercising this right: "Not recognizing the results is not recognizing the citizens..." You cannot have it both ways.

Tim Gonzalez:

It's amazing how you accuse the PRD to foment class warfare. I'm reading your speech, typical of the right (paraphrasing): "I know what I'm talking about, you don't"; "AMLO constituency don't have computers" (ergo they are easily manipulable ignorants). The IFE refused to open all packages because of a limited interpretation of electoral law; we have moved on. It's being debated if the electoral court can order the opening of all packages. The desire of PRD of getting the election annuled is just your interpretation of the consequence of their request, not a fact. As I understand it, the election in Tabasco was annuled because multiple irregularities were discovered, not because all the packages were open.

Oh and by the way, the electoral process is sound and transparent. Contrary to what our PRD friends would have us believe. Their current allegations of complots against their candidate have to stand up in a court. I would like everyone to remember that 27 million Mexican voters did not vote for him and he didn't receive the majority of the votes.

In Tijuana, the Baja California 4th and 6th districts were late reporting vote counts, because the PRD representatives kept raising objections to every packet of ballots. (See www.frontera.info, the local paper) This kind of behavior makes one wonder just how serious the PRD is about fraud. If they had real proof of fraud, one would think that they would denounce it, instead of fruitlessly delaying vote counts.

Pasilla:

It would surprise you to know that I am not on the right or on the left. If Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas would have run, I probably would have voted for like I did in 1988. But, the current PRD candidate is not that caliber of a man.

Antonio: Of course the votes were counted on Sunday. But in case you do not know, there were many dicrepancies on those numbers. What is wrong with doing a recount vote by vote? Are you afraid the results are not in Calderon's favor?

Another thing, I don't speak to AMLO but in case you do speak to your candidate, why don't you suggest him to apply the austerity plan AMLO proposed and cancel the pension Salinas de Gortari gets every month? People are starving in this country and at this point every penny saved could help others. And Pasilla, I truly like your way of thinking.

dear mr. LOWE, here's a stat for you: 99.99% of AMERICANS are complete idiots.

It should surprise nobody that the statistics quoted by Bill Lowe above are:

(a) copied wholesale from an article written by a right-wing think-tank ideologue, Heather Mac Donald, or from one of the many E-mails based on said article;

(b) mostly unsourced (read: invented by Heather Mac Donald) or wildly inaccurate.

A partial rebuttal of these statistics can be found at Snopes.com.

It is never too hard to figure out who invents scary, scary numbers like these. Run a Google search on distinctive phrases and you can quickly learn whether the source is nonpartisan, or an obvious ideologue.

Hint: trustworthy sources, whether on the left or the right, rarely offer the same shrill answers to every single topic they approach. And they rarely use inflammatory language to discuss public policy.

Mike, I assume you are not American. Please do not let your inferiority complexes toward Americans hang out here. If you are American, can we lump you in with the 99.99%?

Karla, cancelling Salinas' pension will accomplish exactly what? By all means, cancel it, he sure doesn't need it, but do not pretend that this is in any way going to help things.

Jerry,

Not only does Salinas not need his pension, it's peanuts compared to what he stole. He simply does not deserve it to begin with. I don't know what over 2,160,000.00 pesos could do for you in a year. But for a small sum of the millions of poor people that live on less than 4 dollars a day would make a huge difference if the government would use this money efficiently.

Karla

2 million pesos would do quite a bit for me in a year. However, in the grand scheme of things, it will do nothing for Mexico. Taking his pension away will make people feel good, he will laugh and replentish it from his secret bank accounts, and the federal treasury will not even notice.

What could the poor of Mexico have done with the money AMLO's buddies were videotaped gambling with in Las Vegas?

To paint people who voted for Calderon as right wing nuts is just stupid. I'm liberal Mexican-American who supports the Democratic Party in the US and I voted for Calderon. I didn't vote for Calderon for his conservative positions, but because his effective and inclusive plan to run Mexico with freedom and transparency. Is also stupid to try to compare the US elections in 2000 with the elections in Mexico. Mexico has an independent, citizen run, with representatives from all parties electoral institute unlike the US where are run by goverments of the states. It is also different because 1 single vote makes a winner.

Don't be so sure the Mexican system is better. It is centralized, federal run, and only as good (and honest) as the people running the IFE. It has worked fine the last two elections. But, ONE set of crooks, and you have a stolen national election. For all the democratic whining about Florida, every independent count done by the media showed Bush's lead holding up. And, state controlled elections mean that you would have to perpetrate 50 frauds, not one to steal a national election. Mexico's system works great, for Mexico. (There is nothing wrong with the system in this election, it is simple a razor thin victory margin, and if AMLO had won by 200,000 votes, he would be demanding no recount, and Calderon would be impugning the honesty of the IFE.) I would not want a bunch of either Hillary Clinton or Bush people running an American IFE, though.

"In this tight of a race, for the good of the integrity of the Mexican electoral process, all of the ballots should be recounted"
The race was tight but that is not a reason to open all the ballot boxes and recount them again. They were counted and the tallies were recounted, period.
If the PRD wants a recount, they can't call for a total recount, that is not possible, they have to specify which ballots to recount, from what region, number of polling station, specifically those where they have evidence of fraud.
If they have no evidence then is not necessary to recount those specific ballots. We cannot recount or redo or have another election based on a suspicion of a single candidate, or everytime somebody losses in a tight election race. Because we need to be clear here. It is only that party the one demanding a recount, and only for the presidential election, how come they did not say anything about the senate and congress and Mexico City Government, the PRD won a lot in those elections.
Mr. Lopez Obrador is very good at manipulating the media. But in the courts, his arguments will not fly.
We had a clean election, they at the PRD had no complain whatsoever during all election, only at the end when the results did not favor them.

What does the PAN have to fear (if they have already won) with a recount- even vote by vote? The recourse is absolutely within the constitutional rights of any and all parties. With a vote so tight, it behoves both parties to proceed with the recount--the PRD to overturn the dubious results-- not annul the vote, as some think; the PAN to lay to rest for six years any hint of wrongdoing and dirty tricks committed before, during or after the voting.
Call me crazy but if I were a journalist of these things, I would be looking back-- at the relationship between the IFE ( not the shining star that some seem to see it as) and el señor Hidebrando and his company Metadata.
Bare with me. The representatives of the IFE in every one of the some 30,000 casillas were to be chosen at random ( al azar). Metadata was in charge of providing the IFE with lists of people in each casilla who could possibly be a IFE rep. As I said, this was supposed to be done randomly. A search that said, "Show me all the women in the seventh district of Mexico City above the age of 35, whose name begins with the letter M." For example. Thing is, Metadata also had access to government lists that, just for example, showed the senior citizens who had received assisitance from the DF government in the seventh district in the form of food subsidies. They also had access to lists that showed who was registered with the PAN in the seventh district. It was not rocket science to do some cross referencing and come up with a list, ready for the IFE, of possible representatives who were also, low and behold, Panistas. The list of representatives that was presented to the IFE by the contracted company Metadata (owned by Felipe de Jesus' brother-in-law) in place of being non-partisan was 'chueca'--skewed, shaved, slanted, distorted- in favor of the PAN.
Why is this of concern?
Given the vehement endeavor by the PAN-gobierno to remove Lopez Obrador from the presidential race with the unsuccesful desafuero maneuver, any other possible intent to influence the voting results has to be seen in that light. Stacking the IFE representatives in a voting station in favor of one party is in fact a blatant attempt to influence the outcome of the vote.
A process that should have been randon and non-partisan had become, just the opposite--another anti-democratic tactic to prevent a legitimate candidate the possibility of participating on a level playing field.
If there was no vote manipulation after the polls closed; if there was no previous-to-the-vote cyber-fraud; if every single vote was registered correctly; if there was no error in the actas de escrutinio; then there is no need whatsoever of a recount. Otherwise, Mexican democracy, not any one political party, demands a judicial review of the voting by the Tribunal-- even if that means all the votes.

It is also a fact that the reason why the PRD wants to open all ballot boxes to count vote by vote is because of the 2000 ruling of the Electoral Tribunal (that created a precedent) that annuled the election in the state of Tabasco due to the massive opening of ballot boxes. The logic of the tribunal was that since representatives from all the parties counted the votes and all had the chance to voice irregularities when the official tally was taken place, to open a majority of the ballots to re-count meant that the election was seriously tainted. What the PRD is trying to do is to say that there are serious irregularities (which almost all of them didn't stand in the official tally) to open all of the ballots to count all the votes and have as a consequense to annul the whole election, regardless of who won. That is the reason and not to re-count all the votes that a system that they help design already counted. And I say is a fact because of what the spokesman for the PRD said today on radio in an interview in Radio Formula when asked about the strategy to follow. I'm not quoting because I didn't recorded the show, but basically he said that thay wanted to open all ballot boxes to re-count the votes and that yes, that a consequence would be to annul the election. When asked if that was the only strategy he added that they would also argue that the current president favored Calderon, negative ads that in their opinion, where not stop soon enough by IFE and therefore unfairly supported by IFE, etc. All of these would annul the election.

Jerry, where you are wrong is to say that the IFE is run by the parties. The IFE is run by independent citizens with representatives of each party. Although is part of the Mexican state, is independent from the goverment, even finacially.

The only proven dirty tricks in this election were on the part of PRD. We watched on tv here as they raided an accounting office in Sautillo where the PRD was handing out food parcels in exchange for a pledge to vote for their candidates. Can anyone point to a proven case of cheating by PAN anywhere in Mexico?

Keith, unfounded speculations and right out lies from PRD talking points. Independent audits (2 of them, one before this speculation came out and one right before the election) cleared IFE from any relationship with Calderon's brother in law.

What;s next? AMLO will go to the Zocalo Saturday in the old style. Someone asked him at a press conference why not use the mass media to make your case to whole country instead of filling the plaza here in Mexico City. He declined to give a full answer, but he rejected the idea.

I suppose it could be argued he will get lots of news coverage for free as the media just love a big rally-- great video.

But the real news begins Monday when Calderon starts getting his transition team together. As the weeks go by with AMLO pushing his legal complaints in the TRIFE, Calderon will gain more and more momentum and be recognized as the de facto president elect.

Now, having said all that-- I will give this to the many lefties from the United States, Mexico and elsewhere who have posted messages here-- If senor Lopez Obrador really has substantive proof of fraud and it is true that thousands of ordinary citizens who volunteered to help run the voting process really were involved in a vast conspiracy, then the election should be overturned and he should be declared winner. On that day it will be hard to find carnitas because all the pigs will be flying!

Carlos:
Tell me if this from El Universal (julio 7 de 2006) is a 'PRD talking point'.

Permanente pide a Canales aclarar caso Hildebrando

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Francisco Reséndiz
El Universal
Jueves 06 de julio de 2006

La Comisión Permanente determinó que los secretarios de Hacienda, de Desarrollo Social, de Energía y de los directores de Pemex y del SAT comparecerán ante el Poder Legislativo para aclarar los contratos que firmaron con Hildebrando y Metadata, propiedad del Diego Zavala.
Ayer el órgano aprobó la comparecencia del Secretario de Energía, Fernando Canales, la cual se suma a las aprobadas el 14 de junio para que Francisco Gil, Teresa Aranda, José María Zubiría y Luis Ramírez Corzo expliquen los contratos firmados con el cuñado de Felipe Calderón.

I know you will say, 'but this is not the IFE' . And yes you are correct. But data from the above entidades can be useful for a company compiling lists for the IFE, which Metadata did. No?

Jerry,

That is why I said, "would make a huge difference if the government would use this money efficiently". When I say this, I mean use it to start a program in a small community to help the less fortunate. Don't get me wrong. I am very much against corruption and I'm glad Bejerano and the rest of the corrupt guys in AMLO's team were caught. I would give anything to have atleast one of the ex-mayors or ex-governors (all priistas) from my state get caught with the millions they have stolen but they seem to get away with it somehow. I guess they are just real pros when it comes to stealing.

IT DOES NOT MATTER IF THE (PRI)(PAN) OR THE (PRED), THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS THAT THE MEXICAN PEOPLE HAVE A REALLY DEMOCRATIC LEADER AND TRY NOT TO IGNORE THE MOST BASIC NEEDS WHICH EVERYBODY KNOWS SUCH DESPERATELY NEEDING JOBS, MORE HELP FOR THE ELDERLY, HEALTH CARE FOR THOSE THAT DON!T HAVE IT, AND MOST OF ALL, FIGHT CORRUPTION AND CRIME! OVERALL NOT TO GIVE TOO MANY BREAKS TO THE RICH.

We are going round and round in circles, like "la mula en la noria." The situatios is clear, from a procedural point of view:

1) The election is over and has to be qualified by the court (TRIFE).

2) The electoral institute (IFE) has generated numbers that will be contested by the PRD; this is completely legal.

3) PRD should present evidence of claimed irregularities; they may petition for a total recount.

4) The court will decide; there are three possible scenarios: a) results stand, and Calderon is declared President Elect; b) Lopez Obrador is declared President Elect, because PRD produced enough evidence to change the results; c) election was so irregular that gets annuled. If the election is annuled, a provisional President is appointed, who shall call to new elections in 1-2 years.

All the rest is speculation. Some of us believe that recounting all votes would legitimate ANY CANDIDATE's victory and strenghten the institutions; some others, affraid that their candidate of choice may lose, oppose the total recount. We have to wait and see, flying pigs notwithstanding...

27% of the Mexicans in the US today migrated there within the last 5 years. That should be enough proof that the PAN's economic model is not working for the vast majority. Six years of more of the same will mean a more radical adjustment.

Total Recount. Why? Didn't we count correctly the votes the first time in the presence of representatives of all parties and international and local observers? And when we counted the votes,Didn't we make a document stating the number of votes for each party and the number of votes canceled? And then, didn't we count these documents (actas) again to get the final result? And during the process of recounting these Actas, didn't all parties have the opportunity to raise any complaints and even to open some of the ballots and count them again?
We don't need to recount everything based on suspicion, already the European Union observers stated there were no irregularities in these elections, and many other international observers are also saying the same thing.
Mr. Obrador can't just admit he lost. That is all. And as a Mexican who freely voted and participated in the organization of the elections together with more than a million more mexicans, I am deeply offended and concerned about Mr. Obrador's claims. How many times are we going to count to have people happy about the results?
Mr. Obrador has not shown his own Actas, if he won the elections, he must have these actas that probe he did. PAN and Felipe Calderon have the actas, and they won.
Mr. Obrador and the PRD knew all along they had lost these elections from the very first moment the polls closed because that is the way our election system works, the parties know when they win or lose and they know who won. The IFE, our electoral institute only recounts the Actas and declares who got the most votes. Our system if totally transparent.
You should investigate first before posting your ridiculous opinions here. By the way, the PRD won many seats in congress and senate and Mexico City Government and many other municipalities and is not challenging any of those results. Why only the presidential elections?
Mr. Obrador does not have any respect for our people. He lied to many of his followers telling them that he was 10 points on top of the other candidates. And many of his followers believed him and now they believe when he claims fraud.
All the oppossite, Mr. Felipe Calderon and his team publicly said the race was very tight and that they may win or may not. They said this to their people and his followers, 15 million of them, went to the polls considering that. They were prepared to see their candidate win or lose, not so Mr. Obrador, who is a master at manipulating large uneducated population offering them all kinds of promises, very irresponsable.
I am so glad he lost and I am proud Calderon won.

Antonio is wrong when he states that the votes were counted one by one. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence of polling officials refusing to open up ballot boxes despite specific requests from the PRD.

I cannot fathom by what Orwellian logic counting all the votes is dishonoring the citizens. Anyone who says the ballots have been counted correctly is plain wrong.

José Flores is wrong when he states that the votes were counted in the presence of national and international observers. While official statistics aren't yet available, PRD coverage of polling sites was far less than 100%. As for international observers, they are simply too few to constitute effective oversight.

By the way, does anyone find it suspicious that the results of the IFE "acta de casilla" count aren't available on-line? (www.ife.org.mx) This is about 36 hours after the count is completed. What's going on? Presumably, these numbers can't change.

Cleanest, most transparent elections in history? Bu%*!^t on toast, my friends.

"Antonio is wrong when he states that the votes were counted one by one. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence of polling officials refusing to open up ballot boxes despite specific requests from the PRD"

Posted by: David Crow

You are wrong, the ballots were counted before, at the polling stations and at the end of the day and in front of all representatives of all parties, and the polling "officials" are not officials, they are citizens who were chosen randomly from the population with the supervision of all parties.
Get Real. Candidates must first accept they have lost and assume the process was correct, then if they have one or ten thousand observations, each and one of them has to be justified.
You can dishonor the whole process and the work of a million people plus observers and media and others just because you or your candidate lost.
What happened here is that the left thought they had it won, and their candidate based his agenda on a populist base and he did not addressed the middle class, and anyone who thinks Mexico does not have a middle class, well, let me tell you, the middle classes of Mexico got Felipe Elected. Stupid Obrador thought he had it won because his meetings were full of poor miserable people carried in trucks to his events by huge numbers and the leftist media followed in the illussion but they forgot that those people does not get involve in the decisions of the country, they prefer to watch a soccer game than to go to vote and yes, most of the middle classes are catholic and obrador and the PRD made a big mistake attacking the catholic leaders.

So where are the vote totals? I would like to see them. The parties did have representatives present at the polling places and at the "conteo de actas", and the PRD representatives have reported all kinds of anomalies, backed up with documentary evidence: more votes than registered voters at some polling sites, contiguous polling sites with exactly the same vote tallies, etc., etc.

La Jornada has been documenting this extensively: www.jornada.com.mx . Interested readers can consult back issues. It's the only Mexican newspaper doing serious investigative journalism.

If recounting votes or nullifying certain polling sites is "dishonoring the citizens", why does the Cofipe specifically allow for this?

The PRD had the totals from the very moment the polls closed, on July 2nd at 6 pm. They and every party representative have a copy and they know what happened. You say that they have documentation of all kinds of anomalities. They could have reported all these anomalities in the same polling stations and the IFE representatives would have corrected them in the spot, yet they did not present any complains and all Actas de Escrution are signed by all party and IFE representatives and that is why after that, what counts is the Actas de Escrutinio.
This is very simple, if there are 100 votes at the end of the day, the IFE representatives count the votes and you and the other party representatives observe and can stop any anomalities right there. At the end of the counting, a document is produced: Acta de Escrutinio and the IFE representative and all party representatives, you included receive a copy. So you and evey party representative knows who won that day. And then the IFE District gathers all these Actas from all polling stations, and again, in the presence of all party representatives, the IFE representatives recount all actas and if a party representative has any observations, for example, the number of ballots does not match your acta, you show this and the IFE are obligated to open and recount those specific ballots but if you come and say open all ballots because I have a feeling there is something wrong here then they don't have to do it.
And by the way, La Jornada is not a newspaper, it is a radical communist panflet supported from communist, marxist, radical people from UNAM, a university that all mexicans support with our taxes and that produces nothing but losers and radical communists and socialist and anti-americans because the professors there are permanently brainwashing the students. You can verify what I am saying, just type Fidel Castro in the search box of la jornada and you will see all kinds of friendly articles about how he and Hugo Chaves are the real heroes of Latin America.

This is the real story:
In the night of July 2nd. I saw the faces of the PRD officials at their headquarters, the tv stations were looking for them and they would not give interviews, they had sad long faces, they knew they had lost. And yet they came forth and declare themselves winners. Mr. Obrador lied to all Mexicans that night declaring himself winner, he quickly gathered a bunch of people at the zocalo. But Mr. Calderon was cool, he came out and set the record straight. Because he and his people knew they had won. If you learn about how Mexican elections work you will see how all candidates and parties always know who the winner is.
The IFE counts the votes, but it is a formality, if during the counting, you see something different from what you have in your Acta, then you challenge it. But Mr. Obrador is not doing that, because he knows he lost, so he is playing the ignorance of the people like you David, who don't know how transparent the process is. Just look at the recent reports from the European Union observers, they covered more than 20 percent of the polling places and they have nothing but admiration for the process.
What offends is that Mr. Obrador if saying that the IFE and the PAN are committing fraud, get real, the PRD has won more that any other party in these and other past elections: Mexico City, Six States, thousands of municipalities across all the nation and their share of both houses of congress and senate has doubled and tripled in just six years.
From the very moment Calderon said to Obrador: Let us show all the Actas and verify any differences, but he will not accept that because he knows he lost and at the end of the day he will lose in the courts the same, but the same he will not recognize it because his problem is that he bet all his political capital in these elections, and he stepped over many people inside his own party, including Mr. Cardenas, who is waiting for this whole process to end to claim his position as leader of the party. Mr. Obrador is trying desperately to cancel the whole election because he knows after this defeat he is politically death, his enemies inside his own party are waiting for him. You see he did not go through internal elections to become the PRD Presidential Candidate, he took control of the leadership of his own party and ousted Cardenas and many others out and his team, all ex-salinistas like Manuel Camacho Solis and Marcelo Erbrad will not follow him if he has no power.
That is all, he wants to be in power because of greed. Forget the ideals of the left, this guy is not a leftist, he is an opportunist who kiddnapped the party of Mr. Cardenas.

The IFE declared a winner based on vote totals. Where are those numbers? Why, more than 36 hours after the fact, doesn't the public have access to those numbers?

I think what a lot people in the United States and other countries do not see about this is the fact that even though Obrador is very popular in the DF and the south of the country, he is not in the Northern States and in the Bajio, In Nuevo Leon for example, he got less than 8 percent of the votes and that is because most of the northern and central states usually vote for either PAN or PRI.
The northern states of the country are much more prosperous than the south, where the poverty and unemployment soar and where Obrador's offers of welfare get good response. But his polarizing speech antagonize many small business owners and middle class citizens in north and central states. We voted for Felipe Calderon because is a well known Panista and in these regions Mr. Obrador would never gather those huge meetings he is able to organize in the zocalo.
I think the world of Mexico City, his huge popularity there and near areas affected the way he saw the elections.
But, repeteadly in Mexican history, the northern states are the ones who usually get to chose the Presidents, because even though these states have less population, the people have better educational levels and the people vote as much as they do in Mexico city, but in Guerrero, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Tabasco,Chiapas and the rest of southern states, exept Puebla, are vey poor and people there have a huge abstensionism.
That made the difference in this election in my opinion, of course the campaign of spots and other factors also play, but the task at hand for the PAN and for Calderon was huge, Obrador had been in campaign for 4 years, and some event like the desafuero had increased his popularity. A lot people are very passionate about him, but he was never popular in the north and central states.
I think the lesson for him and other is that the North and Central states, at least for a while, will continue to choose presidents, it happened with President Fox, the north voted him and it happened with Calderon this time.
But there was never any fraud. Obrador knows it, he is desperate, he is gone. He is 52 or so, and in six years he will be too old to run against young and very popular PAN candidates from the north like Calderon.

You say he got less than 8% of the votes in Nuevo León. Where did you get that information? Why aren't the totals available, polling place by polling place? I would like to see the results myself and analyze them.

AMLO got 15.97% of the votes in NL. The results are available, state by state and district by district on the PREP count. Go to
http://elecciones.reforma.com/prep2006/PRESIDENTE/nacional_Pre.html

Of course, as you undoubtably know, Reforma is part of the vast right wing conspiracy, so they probably manipulated the results.

Karla, I am sorry I did not respond earlier, I was at a baseball game in Ensenada...

I think no reasonable person would disagree that most of the PRI are a bunch of rats, including Salinas and Madrazo. The problem is that 90% (Pasilla may attack me on this, maybe it is only 85%) of the PRD is ex PRI. Remember Macedonio? Cardenas, AMLO, Camacho Solis, Munoz Ledo, Martinez Veloz here in BC, and on and on are all ex priistas. And the PRI breeds rats. It stretches the imagination to believe that they all got honest all of a sudden upon leaving the party. The PAN are no angels, especially where they have been in power for a while (which is why in Tijuana Jorge Hank Rhon (ugh) got elected last year, as a rejection of corrupt panistas.) but, over all, they are MUCH more clean than the PRI. and, by extension, than the PRD. That, combined with the thuggish behavior of a lot of the perredista base, which is something you NEVER see from the PAN base makes me very leary of AMLO.

Mr. Obrador's claim are baseless since they are out of time and form.
The moment the counting of ballots did not favoured him he demanded a recount and threaten to challenge the IFE first counting even though the IFE had not finished counting.
His representatives should have stated the claims during the counting, but since they did not see anything wrong they did not. No AMLO is contradicting them.
He is lost. Nobody, now, nobody, not even the courts, can open all the ballots, they will have to open each one specifically for a justified reason and the PAN is in its own right to defend itself.

Hey people, wake up!!!

Regardless of the outcome, the election was a tie. Neither of the political camps was strong enough to overwhelm the other (as many supporters on both sides craved and are still craving). Who cares who won the presidential election. At this point what should concern us is if said elected president will have the capacity to finish his six year term. The Congress is completely divided in thirds so political stagnation is expected. A third part of the electorate feels cheated. What we need in Mexico is political reform. In a semiparliamentary regime, this kind of winner-takes-all outcome could have been avoided while convergence between the different parliamentary factions would have been encouraged. We Mexicans continue to think about elections in a "caudillista" approach disregarding the fact that the foundations for the next government have been laid down in the Congress.

As we discuss, leaders from around the world are already congratulating Felipe Calderon. He won. That's it and Mr. Obrador can jump and sing and cry and call for meetings and take his case to court and else, but all to no avail because at the end of the day, he lost. Be it because of his own mistakes, because of his colaborators or the many divisions and tribal conflicts in his party or because of the campaign strategist of Calderon, in the end is the same, he lost.
Obrador has called for a big meeting at the zocalo and already some important people who were suppossed to go are not going anymore, because the newly elected president is moving quickly and intelligently and he has more to offer than Obrador, I am talking about the Labor Union of Telmex and other as important as well, labor leaders who joined Obrador in the last weeks of the campaign dreaming a big victory but that now see he is lost and the future as leaders as well, they are now talking to Calderon and negotiating. The people you will see in this meeting this saturday will be mostly radicals from UNAM and Atencos and EZLN who have absolutely no influence in Mexican politics at all and of course, the poor miserable people brought in big trucks and who do not know anything about what is at stake. And the usual gang of pseudo-intelectuals like Monsivais, Granados Chapa, all the staff from la Jornada, Lorenzo Meyer, Guadalupe Loeza, others will not go, at least they will not impersonate themselves physically there, but they will spread the word that is was a great meeting, I am talking about Carmen Aristegui and Victor Trujillo and Renteria and other frustrated leftist journalists.
But Mr. Calderon continues making alliances, the PRI is weak and confused now and Calderon has a lot to offer to them and the PRI knows it is better to destroy Obrador and to support Calderon, already the Governors of the PRI, 17 of them, are coming out on tv and talking about respecting the will of the voters who elected Calderon and they threatening the PRD and are now standing next to the newly elected president. They will find the support they need to strenghten their party.
PAN also got a vast mayority in Congress and the Senate. In Congress, we learned today that PAN will get 207 seats and it is fighting for other 3 and they will go to courts, as concentrated as the PRD was in the Presidential fight, they are now losing more positions in congress. And all Felipe will need to reach a Mayority to pass his reforms is 30 more congressmen, he has 207, plus 9 from Nueva Alianza, the party formed by Campa and Elba Esther Gordillo, and now the whole PRI, 127 or more newly elected congressmen will support him as Madrazo's influence quickly erodes and the destruction of Obrador is guaranteed. Same is happening in the Senate house.
All other parties, PRI, Alternativa and Nueva Alianza have ratified the results of the IFE and recognized the new president. Felipe will reign in and everyone knows that, in fact, as we speak, all those big business that supported Obrador, like Televisa and Tv Azteca and Carlos Slim are quickly forgetting about the loser and trying to catch the attention of the winner, knowing he is a wise politician who knows how to build alliances and is gaining power more and more. The court will ratify his victory in two weeks.
The whole business community is the happiest, the stock market is up, the Peso is up also, and the interest rates are stable, we are in for a happy ending. By the way, Obrador was suppossed to be with Lopez Doriga last night but apparently he refused because Doriga, who usually gave Obrador 30 minutes of his news program, was going to give him an interview of only 3 minutes! So of course, Obrador refused. Bye AMLO.

I am not a Mexican citizen, but we in Venezuela are very much concerned with the actions of interference that the tyrant of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, are being promoted and cast upon your country. Nothing is perfect, including your armored electoral system and when in dealing with a monstruous traitor and usurper as chavez you should better have the eyes open. Undoubtedly, millions of much needed funds here were diverted to support the four years campaign of Mr. Lopez O.
Just recently,Chavez announced here that he is ready to return his ambassador to Mexico, the same one that organized cells, castroite like, to control the Mexican population. Do not say that Mexico is different, same as we used to say that we are not Cuba. Only through a heavy fight at all political levels and on the streets we have been able to survive to crimes upon the people and incarceration of legal dissidents, to this moment. His expericence as an election robber will be put into effect this year and we may be lost for a long time as a democratic country. I would no like Mexico to fall in such hands as AMLO´s, because you will see Chavez giving direct instructions at Palacio Nacional. Beware my friends, the conspiracy set in move by the Foro de Sao Paulo, in which AMLO is a prominent figure, will only bring your country more miseries that you can figure out and worst of all. will dstroy your infant multiparty democracy to a terrible end.

Jerry-

You are evidently unaware that the PREP--Programa de Resultados Preliminares--is NOT the count upon which Calderón was declared winner. The PREP stopped on Monday, July 3. All parties acknowledge that the PREP was deeply flawed, and Luis Carlos Ugalde repeatedly said the PREP was not intended to declare a winner. (You can easily verify this by verifying the vote total for Calderón given by the PREP, just over 14 million, with that he was attributed later, over 15 million.)

When I ask for vote totals, I'm talking about the "conteo de actas" that began on Wednesday morning and concluded on Thursday. The IFE declared Calderón winner based on these numbers. They are AVAILABLE NOWHERE. Why not?

And by the way, district by district counts are insufficient. I want polling place by polling place. The IFE has these numbers--otherwise they couldn't have declared a winner--but for some reason has not made them publicly available, despite the fact that nearly two full days have transpired since the "conteo de actas". Again, why are these numbers not available?

No one here has answered that question. Jerry, I'm going to assume you didn't know the difference between PREP and "conteo de actas"; otherwise, your post is disingenuous and intentionally misleading.

David, please learn that insulting your opponent is no sutstitute for logical arguement; it may work with the intelectual types you probably hang out with, but not in the real world.

The PREP count nationally was off by less than half a percent from the official count. It is a safe assumption that the state by state vote count is also similarly close. Thus, I would assume that the miserable 16% your hero got in NL is not going to change much, with the official count.

As to why are the polling place numbers are not available, you really ought to ask IFE, not me...

Jerry-

There was no insult; on the contrary, I gave you the benefit of the doubt. Touting the PREP numbers as a sign of transparency is, at the very least, mistaken. The fact that the official percentage was close to the PREP percentage proves nothing; both could be mistaken. It is also significant that the difference between the PREP and the official count is roughly Calderón's margin of victory.

Is it really so unreasonable to want to see the numbers, polling place by polling place? The PRD has alleged numerous anomalous voting patterns in the vote totals. I just want to be able to judge for myself if that's true or not. Is that so wrong? What convincing explanation could there be for the IFE's failure to publish these numbers? Technical difficulties? It's a spreadsheet with 130,000 rows and nine columns, for crying out loud.

SHOW ME THE NUMBERS ALREADY!!!

According to the paper this morning, the PRD is going to challenge no fewer than 43,000 polling stations, mostly in Guanajuato, Jalisco and Nuevo Leon (PAN strongholds, where the populaton has been brainwashed by the vast right wing conspiracy), because, among other reasons, the PRD did not have representatives at all the polling places in these states.

Of course, the PRD had the legal right to have representatives at these polls, but chose not to, or could not find volunteers to do it. Now, this is further proof that the PAN stole the election.

For its part, the PAN is now thinking about challenging polling places in PRD strongholds, too.

David, it has 130,000 rows! That takes time. I have no idea where these numbers are, the IFE does not tell me. But I would assume they are going to show up sooner or later. If it was a big deal, don't you think the PRD would be screaming about it already? Since they are not, they probably either already have the numbers, or are not worried about them.

Speaking of numbers, the figures I want to be shown are those that show AMLO winning by 500,000 votes. He claimed this margin of victory in his victory speech Sunday night, based on "our figures". If he really won, why doesn't he release "our figures"?

The PRD has every right to challenge these polling sights, as does the PAN. Let the truth come out, and whoever wins, let the victory beyond all doubt. As things stand, there are many reasonable doubts. Perhaps the official results would dispel these doubts. Unfortunately, the results are NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.

I was happy to see the comments by Jose Flores and Pedro. Jose makes a good point about Lopez Obrador not wanting to go on Televisa if they would only give him three minutes. He can't say anything in three minutes because he takes a two or three second pause between each word! He is a really tedious speaker.

That brings us to Pedro's comments, providing a much needed perspective from Venezuela, where the middle class failed to recognize the danger early enough and unite behind one party or candidate to oppose Chavez. Now Chavez has consolidated all power and has imposed laws that threaten opposition people with jail if they say anything critical about Hugo and his gang of Castroites.

One thing I will give Chavez, though, is that he can put words together. He is much better speaker than Lopez Obrador and I am sure he would have found ways to manipulate the AMLO government, had their been one. If Mexicans want to know just how lucky they are that Calderon won-- find
some Venezuelans who aren't Marxist fanatics, and ask them about what a mess their country is in.

By the way, I find it amusing how lefties in Mexico complained about the "negative attack ads" against AMLO that used the image of Chavez. I think that was entirely appropriate. Besides, how can it be that the left admires Hugo so much and then they get offended when someone compares their darling AMLO with Chavez?

Jerry-

Come on. The IFE could get a spreadsheet with 130,000 rows on-line in less than an hour if it wanted to.

By the way, The PRD IS screaming about the numbers. I'm not interested in AMLO's numbers, or in Calderón's, but in the numbers on which the IFE declared Calderón the winner. I want to see them polling site by polling site.

Why is it so unreasonable to want to see those figures? Why isn't Calderón demanding that they be published? After all, he would be the main beneficiary of having his "victory" be put beyond all doubt.

For us in the states and for those who care about the future of Mexico, post election commotion is very disturbing. ALMO is doing more harm than good. He should show some restraint for the sake of his county. Imagine if Al Gore did what ALMO has done. I understand the US is not Mexico but these premature demonstrations before an official certification does not inspire much confidence in a county which badly needs an international economic boost. If ALMO gets his way and eventually wins, Mexico looses. Democracies are not sustained when the power of mobs can over turn an election. ALMO should act like a leader and put Mexico's best interest first.

As an American with a Mexican wife and son, I care deeply about the future of Mexico. I fail to see how it is in Mexico's best interest for any president to assume office after an election about which reasonable doubts exist. I also object to the portrayal of the decision to mount peaceful protests as "one man's whim", as Calderón has stated. Over 14.75 million people voted for AMLO; I am certain that the vast majority of these people agree with the PRD's defense of their votes.

Mexican law specifically provides for electoral challenges. Mexico's constitution guarantees freedom of speech. Protest is well within the repertoire of democratic actions to make demands on political leaders--in this case, to count all the votes and dispel uncertainties about the election.

Foremost among these uncertainties, to me, is whether the official vote total really reflects how people voted at the polls. Having the official results is a first step in ascertaining the answer to this question. But, I repeat, they are NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.

David-- The electoral institute is bound by certain laws that were agreed upon by all the political parties. It would be better, politically speaking, if they could publish everything right away. I wish they would, too.

I think Calderon won, but if there is going to be a cloud over his presidency, then, yes, it would be better for him and for Mexico to have all those votes displayed for public view.

The answer Mexican experts will give is that it is not the role of the IFE to do this, it is the role of the tribunal to judge the fairness and transparency of the election. I hope, frankly, they the tribunal will check out every complaint and do vote-by-vote counts where it is necessary. No doubt, the PAN lost a few votes here and there, as well. No human endeavor of this magnitude is ever perfect.

But AMLO should confine his efforts to the tribunal and the legal process instead of calling people to the streets to "put pressure" on officials. He is also acting irresponsibly in saying the nation's "stability" is at stake. This is simply code for, "you had better rule in our favor or we will shut down the roadways and spread violence and chaos all across the land."

Most of the Mexicans I know understand this and are afraid of what will come next. In a nation of laws, the candidate with a complaint should follow the legal process and not use threats to get his way.

Let's see what he says tonight at his big rally here in Mexico City. I hope for the sake of the wonderful people I know here in Mexico that he does not do anything to set this country back after all the progress that has been made here in recent years.

David,

I hear you. But I don't think Jerry does. I reached that conclusion a while ago, and I let him know. It's puzzling how he felt insulted by you asking civil, logical questions. But anyway.

After hundreds of comments in several days, I detect a few patterns:

a) The PAN symphatizers are scared, in public or in private, that the victory of their candidate may vanish at the court. They are democratic only if that suits them. When the opposition wants to excercise it legitimate rights, demonstrating or challenging the results, they attack it.

b) Because of this fear, they keep re-living the election, recycling the same lies, half truths and innuendo; I'm convinced that in many cases they are victims of the PAN propaganda; they refuse to think by themselves, to be informed.

c) I'm not certain of a widespread fraud during the election; but I'm convinced that irregularites occurred, some, I'm sure, of the type documented by the NYT: innocent mistakes, which, however, multiplied by hundreds of thousands, can change the results of the election. I praise those who participated in the process; I believe some of you who claim complete transparency in their voting place; but nobody can vouch for all of the more than 130,000 voting stations. Invoking the opinion of a handful of international observeres sounds to me a little bit "malinchista;" this is a Mexican election, and it's the Mexicans who should be fully convinced of the transparency of the process.

c) The most troublesome trend is this pitting of North vs. South, incited, among others, by Jerry Bourbon. This is nothing new. I recall ominous scribbles on walls in northern cities saying "Make the Motherland, kill a chilango (habitant of Mexico City)." This arrogance, this bigotry cannot be used to govern a country of more than 100 million, with a divided Congress and a candidate who apparently won a little more than 30% of the votes (and here I speak about both leading candidates). As a Mexican, and an American, I fear for Mexico. Being better off, more educated, doesn't give me the right of considering myself superior to any other Mexican.

I would translate "Haz patria, mata a un chilango" more as "Be patriotic, kill a chilango". This particular stereotype has been around a lot longer than the present election campaign, and is directed at chilangos, and their presumed arrogance, not at the south as a whole. On the other hand, watching any sports program in Tijuana, if they have a comment line, they will give a Mexico City number, and then another, 800 number, "for the provinces". This kind of thinking, that the world revolves around Mexico City, is not conducive to winning friends outside of the DF.

There is plenty of hipocracy up north too, many of the same people who scream about the US building a wall to keep out Mexicans want to build a wall to keep Sinaloans out of Baja California.

In the end, Pasilla, I think AMLO would have been a terrible president. However, if he had won, more power to him. If he thinks he was cheated, then he should use the TRIFE to make his point. The fact that he is instead convoking mass rallies in the Zocalo makes me think that he has no confidence in convincing the TRIFE of any fraud.

I believe that, rather than actual fraud, he thinks it was "unfair" that the PAN used negative advertising against him, and that it was "unfair" that more members of the PRD did not volunteer to be poll watchers.
In a free country, he should get used to negative ads, and the poll watcher situation is an internal PRD problem, not Mexico's

Jerry-

1) The PRD IS USING THE TRIFE!!! It has also called for peaceful protests in the Zócalo--as it has the right to do in a democracy that guarantees free speech.

2) It's not AMLO that's "unhappy"; it's also 14.75 million people that voted for him. This is not some personal whim or ego trip.

3) We don't need to speculate what AMLO and 14.75 million Mexicans (at least) are unhappy about. They have made their complaints clear over the past few days. They include:

1) All the states in which AMLO won have fewer presidential than congressional votes, something at odds with everything we know about undervotes (which always favor president over lower posts).

2) Polling places in which the number of votes exceeded the number of registered voters.

3) Many cases of contiguous polling sites, or sites in the same district, that contain the EXACT number of vote totals.

4) The possibility of "cyber-fraud". For example, two UNAM mathematicians who tracked the Wednesday-Thursday recount noted that the combined percentage of AMLO-Calderón votes was always around 71.5%, never varying more than +/- 0.5%. The possibility of this happening by chance is infinitessimally small. Also, according to Marti Batres of the PRD, in the majority of polling sites where AMLO received 200 votes or more, Patricia Mercado received 0 votes. The probability of this happening by chance is also exceedingly small.

These are just a few examples. Human error (or worse) can creep up at any number of points in the process of calculating, receiving, and reporting vote totals. No party, for example, supervises data entry of reports from the district councils.

Again, if we had the official totals, we could confirm or put to rest many of these assertions.

4) It is true that the PRD's problems of internal organization prevented them from covering many polling places. However, it does not follow that they have no right to complain about these places, or much less that the other parties could then do whatever they wanted.

David, convoking demonstrations with threatening banners, like "Calderon will never be inaguarated" is not responsibly using the TRIFE.
The noises coming out of the DF just confirm everyone else's suspicions of Chilangos. "WE voted for AMLO, therefore, you (the 80% of Mexicans who do not live in the DF and environs) must accept him." What hubris. This demonstration is the best thing that could have happened for the PAN, as it will only unite the non-chilangos against AMLO.

According to El Universal, these are two of the more interesting signs in the Zocalo right now:
"Calderón no tomará posesión, López Obrador, presidente de la nación"
and
"Estamos listos señor, ¡Usted ordene!".

The second one sounds remarkably like a call to violence. The first is a thuggish threat.

Please do not believe these apologist of Obrador. he lost in the elections but his greed for power is more important than the stability of the country. As we speak he is taking to the streets stirring anger and hate and inciting people to violence in an effort to pressure and blackmail the courts to get what he did not get in the polls. That is no popular assembly, the only popular assembly in our country is the congress and all political parties are represented there.
Now many mexican leftist pseudo-intellectuals are playing his game cowardly, leftist journalist and analist with a hidden agenda to manipulate the public opinion in favor of obrador are now working, they are Sergio Aguayo, a leftist radical pundit who would like mexico to be like Cuba or Venezuela. Denisse Dresser, Ciro Gomez Leyva, Victor Trujillo, Julio Hernandez and his liers and fabricators from La Jornada, and all the usual gang communist radicals like Monsivais, Poniatowsca, Granados Chapa, all these people and the cowards from the PRD are following a crazy populist who has no respect for anybody, now he has taken the election to the courts and these coward journalists are saying he is correct even though he is at the same time stirring violence.
Our republic is at stake, you mexican PRD and Obrador fanatics who write in these newspapers, be aware of what is at stake in our country. The very stability we enjoy. The IFE is a clean and independent institute and the European Union and other observers have declared the elections were cleaned.
But these coward jounalist and their newspapers like La Jornada and Proceso are stirring hate and anger. Obrador lost and he did not accept the results and now if he losses in the courts he will not accept it again. His path is the way of violence and beg to these journalist I mention to tell the PRD followers the truth, and for someone to tell Obrador to stop and take the legal path and obey the law and be respectful. Our institutions are more important than the greed of one man.
If people follow him, there will be many problems, already our business men are having second thoughts about the future of our country and we do not have the conditions to create more jobs.
People like Obrador take opportunity of the weakness of institutions in young republics. Hugo Chavez did it in Venezuela, Fidel Castro in very happy watching us now too.
Please stop these. Please think about the future of our contry.

López Obrador IS taking the lawful path. Challenging election results and peaceful assemblies are both LEGAL in Mexico last time I looked. Nobody is "blackmailing" the courts to obtain what they didn't get at the polls. Rather, they are expressing a simple demand: count the ballots right. And they expressed it PEACEFULLY. No incidents have been reported. Saying "López is President" is just as irresponsible as Calderón and followers saying he won. Only the TEPJF can declare a winner.

To call Granados Chapa, Monsivais, et al, "communists" reveals more about author of these comments than about their targets. This is redolent of McCarthyism, or the sort of fascism Mexico saw in the 1920's during the Cristero war. I was on an academic panel with Denise Dresser in September of last year. She has great personal distaste toward AMLO, but has the decency to call for the only measure that would put these elections beyond doubt: counting the ballots one by one.

I find it interesting that nobody addresses any of the irregularities I report above. If they are true (and if not, please PROVE THEM WRONG with polling place by polling place results), they are very disturbing