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.
Its cheaper to build a wall or very deep fence than what the United States is spending to educate,feed,house and care for Mexico's poor. By building a fortified barrier, we will be severly curtailing the influx of Mexico's poor and criminal element and thus saving the American taxpayer billions of dollars that should be going to educating our kids.Let Mexico pay for their own problems not the American taxpayer.
Check out post 81
MEGA BUMP
20.25 percent in
Calderon 38.91
Obrador 35.50
Madrazo 18.92
There is no point in debating this with you. I am constantly in touch the workings of Mexico from inside there (where it is very different than what is reported in the press outside).
Sure, Fox is a RINO by our standards but he was considered to be very conservative by their standards.
The PRD is the equivilant to the Socialist Labor Party. The PRI is more like a Hatian government -- it isn't Right Or Left but is so corrupt it is useless. It is Leftist in that it uses patronage to pay off the peasants to keep them from revolting.
The PAN is to the left of the Democrats (barely), but they are the least left option.
Correct on all counts.
You get an "F" in reading comprehension. I already said a fence (or wall) is a necessary part of curtailing immigration. But I also said that illegal immigration is only part of the equation and that we have to deal with Mexico no matter what.
Bernie is always great for a good laugh.
I am not arguing with you anymore.
Good decision.
Something we agree.
Yep. It was painful to let you keep shouting your ignorance and lack of comprehension skills. These are not valued on FR and certainly should not be put on display where the whole world can see them.
That is something else most people get wrong.
FOX
Supposedly the first change of government in decades for Mexico.
He ended up putting back in place the same folks from the other party and went globe trotting.
He didn't do a darn thing for Mexico.
Until you kill off the drug lords, there will be no real country of Mexico.
Yeah. Like most of the Senate, many in the House and one in the Oval Office.
At least Im willing
Let's go back shall we? You said we should sever all ties to Mexico. I said that is impossible. You said "clsong the door will work." I asked for your basis for that. You said "a wall will stop illegals." I said "This more than about illegals." You said "You're mean!" I pointed out your inability to understand the situation and not knowing the facts shouldn't be posted for all to see.
And you post this non sequitur. You really do have comprehension problems.
Its over.
Again -- good decision.
I support your views on the Mexican election 100%.
It seems that people on this post do not understand the History of Mexico....nor its political parties. How Mexico had a revolution in the 1920s and forced Socialism down everyone's throat for the next 80 years and murdering clergy and Christians that got in the government's way. And how Fox changed that with his election.
PAN is no rhino. Pan is the conservative Party in Mexico. And we should all be hoping for a PAN Victory. Both in the Legislative and Executive. Not just in the Executive like Fox got.
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