Posted on 07/02/2006 5:45:55 PM PDT by garbageseeker
MEXICO CITY - Mexicans voted Sunday in a tight presidential race to decide whether their country becomes the latest Latin American nation to move to the left, choosing between a shopkeeper's son promising to save the poor and a conservative calling his rival's free-spending populism dangerous.
The campaign, which exposed Mexico's painful class divisions, was the first since Vicente Fox's stunning victory six years ago ended 71 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.
Polls predicted a close race between conservative Felipe Calderon, 43, of Fox's National Action Party, and leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, 52, a former Mexico City mayor from the Democratic Revolution Party. The PRI's Roberto Madrazo, 53, was running a distant third, ahead of two minor candidates.
All three candidates promised to improve relations with the United States while opposing increased border security measures unpopular in Mexico.
More than 24,000 observers were monitoring the vote, which also will determine three governors, Mexico City's mayor, and both houses of Congress. The congressional races are key, determining whether the next president will face the same battle Fox did in trying to push through reforms.
Exit polls by the two major Mexican television networks showed Marcelo Ebrard of Lopez Obrador's party easily winning the Mexico City mayor's race, and Calderon's party holding on to Fox's home state of Guanajuato and the western state of Jalisco, where the race had been expected to be tighter.
In the third governor's race, Morelos, one poll showed Calderon's party slightly ahead, while the other said it was too close to call.
Voters waited in long lines during the day, some complaining that there weren't enough ballots. One group even briefly blocked a major Mexico City thoroughfare in frustration at being turned away. Several polling centers in southern Oaxaca state, the scene of violent clashes last month, did not open because of security concerns.
"We have not seen widespread problems, but we've seen a lot of confusion," said Ted Lewis, who was coordinating a team of 25 observers from the San Francisco-based Global Exchange.
In neighboring Guerrero state, two poll workers were shot to death before the polls opened, according to Lopez Obrador's party. Electoral officials said they were investigating, but the killings appeared unrelated to the vote.
Officials hoped to announce a new president a few hours after the last poll closed at 9 p.m. EDT, based on a quick count. But they cautioned they would wait if no candidate had a strong enough lead.
After a six-month campaign marked by mudslinging and a polarized electorate, Mexicans greeted Sunday's vote with relief. "Finally, a decision!" read the front-page headline in the Reforma newspaper.
Many polling stations were late in setting up, forcing voters to wait more than an hour before casting their ballots.
Carolina Nougue, 35, a perfume factory manager, sat frustrated outside a poll in an upscale Mexico City neighborhood. Nougue, who reluctantly voted for Calderon, described herself as a leftist but said she worried Lopez Obrador would govern like radical Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and was turned off by his pledge to put the poor first.
"The division isn't between the rich and the poor," she said. "It's between the ignorant people and those who think."
In Mexico City's Nezahualcoyotl slum, polls were delayed by flooding from a powerful hailstorm Saturday night. Juana Velasquez, 63, and other residents spent the morning bailing water from their homes before voting.
"Every year, it's the same. You just vote for someone who doesn't do anything," said Velasquez, who was casting a protest vote for Roberto Campa of the minor New Alliance Party.
Others simply refused to take part.
"We aren't going to vote," said protester Maria del Carmen, a 24-year-old student marching down Mexico City's Reforma Avenue with Zapatista rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos and hundreds of supporters. "We don't believe in the system, and we are going to show our strength."
Early riser Lopez Obrador, dressed in a brown leather jacket, was the first candidate to cast his ballot, and had to wait nearly an hour before volunteers were ready.
"We did our part," he said. "We are going to wait to see what the people of Mexico decide."
During his campaign, Lopez Obrador accused Calderon of catering to the rich and promised that he would govern for Mexico's 50 million poor. Many followed his message like a religion, crowning him with flowers at rallies and plastering cars with his slogan: "Smile. We are going to win."
Calderon has warned that Lopez Obrador's proposals, including handouts for the elderly and poor, would bankrupt the nation. Wearing a suit and tie, he showed his right palm before voting in Mexico City, a reference to his "clean hands" campaign slogan.
"It has been a tense, competitive campaign," he said. "Tomorrow, we have to start a new era of reconciliation."
Madrazo has painted himself as the alternative to the "radical left and intolerant right" — but many have questioned how long his party, which has suffered infighting and defections, would survive past the election.
Mexican law limits presidents to one term, and Fox plans to retire to his ranch in December after his successor is sworn in.
On Sunday, which happened to be his 64th birthday, Fox gave an ink-stained thumbs-up to prove he voted and said: "I know that there are no Mexicans who want to go against democracy."
About 71 million of Mexico's 103 million people were eligible to vote.
The estimated 11 million Mexicans living in the United States were allowed to vote from abroad for the first time, but the 32,632 ballots they cast weren't likely to make much of a difference.
Thousands who missed out on the new mail-in vote — including farm workers and construction laborers living in California — traveled to Mexican border cities on Sunday to cast their ballots at polling stations.
So there you go. By your own admission, the "conservative" party in Mexico is to the LEFT of the party of Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy here.
I agree the debate is over, because you have just proved my point what no matter which of the three parties wins in Mexico, we'll have some gun-grabbing, welfare luvin', UN whore running the country.
The election is between left, left, and far-left, and you want us to think "victory" will occur when a leftist wins even though the last six years, our "best friend" has opposed Bush on EVERY issue.
You can pop the champaign when the Mexican Lincoln Chafee beats the Mexican Frank Lautenberg and the Mexican Ralph Nader.
No matter happens, Mexican will remain a third world cesspoll for the foreseeable future.
"No matter who they elect, the corruption will continue," said Amelia Juantes, 23, who didn't even attempt to get an absentee ballot.
-- Apathy, obstacles hurt Mexican expatriate voting in U.S.
Bump
Bump
That'll be different.
"Mexico is a lost cause. No matter which government is installed, the corruption will continue(in local state and federal government),a large disparity between the very rich who take the oil money and the poor and uneducated who live in slums, the drug barons will control the border regions with assistance of the Mexican military and police,and the persistent poverty will continue. The only solution is to build a very tall wall with razor sharp barbed wire along the border."
Perhaps when the border(Mexico's poverty release valve)is closed to illegal immigration -- and the Mexican government can no longer export it's poverty -- then the common people of Mexico might, themselves, force reform upon their government.
"Does it matter whether a right leaning or left leaning government be in place? At the end of the day, the corruption in the government,the drug barons and the poverty will still be there. It will be business as usual in Mexico."
Mexico sucks.
Sometimes I think it would be better if we just took over their police and judicial system. Just ignore the stupid laws and make sure the scums put away. Let them deal with schooling and infrastructure.
Of course, it makes a difference!
"It makes a hell of a difference. If the socialist wins that makes Venezuela and Mexico the defacto Western hemisphere OPEC. They are 2 of the largest oil producers in the world and they can use their combined output to do real damage to our economy. They can sell every drop to China and not lose a cent from cutting off our supplies. You had better believe it is bad."
Could happen that way...
Bump
Bump
"PAN is probably RINO using FR's gauge. That's a whole lot better than a chavez clone."
Wow, I agree with you on the last part, although I don't think he's that bad...but then again you don't know till it happens.
" OMG! Dane, you and I agree on something! Wow -- mark this post down! :)"
LMAO...I just said same thing.
Its the same old song, but sung by different leaders.
"Well, actually he's the best. Make no mistake, there is a HUGE difference between the PRI and the PAN. The reason that Fox has not been able to reform Mexico more by privatizing it industries and so on is largely becuase the PRI spent a century accruing power and it still has more than enough to stymie him."
Exactly. Fox isn't a great guy, but he's been trying to do good stuff; the PRI still holds too much power in their congress.
"You had better be able to before your "opinion" is seen as just the ranting of a fool."
Huh?
People say the same thing here too. But it's not true.
Obrador believes in more government programs ... Calderon thinks it's a disgrace for Mexicans to come to the US and wants to fix Mexico.
You choose. I know who I'd vote for.
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