Posted on 07/08/2006 7:21:08 PM PDT by ARealMothersSonForever
MEXICO CITY (AFP) - A massive crowd, estimated at 280,000 by authorities and 400,000 by organizers, has protested the conservative victory in Mexico's presidential election, which the leftist candidate challenged in court.
"We are requesting a ballot-by-ballot recount," said leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, drawing rousing cheers from the crowd that packed Mexico City's huge downtown Zocalo square and neighboring streets.
"We are certain we triumphed on July 2," he said, claiming widespread irregularities marked the electoral process that gave victory by a razor-thin margin to conservative Felipe Calderon, of the governing National Action Party (PAN.)
He called for nationwide marches that will start Wednesday and converge on the capital, and stressed the protests would remain peaceful.
"There is clear evidence that they took away our votes to favor the right," said Lopez Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor who advocates the cause of the millions of impoverished Mexicans.
"It was a massive fraud, those right-wingers sure know how to cheat," Angel Farfan, 60, one of his supporters said before joining the rest of the crowd in chanting "Obrador, president."
Lopez Obrador claimed that President Vicente Fox illegally campaigned in favor of Calderon, that the PAN had far exceeded campaign spending limits and that the governing party bought votes.
The lawyers will present their challenge to the Federal Electoral Tribunal on Sunday, and will also file complaints with the Supreme Court, which can issue recommendations to the tribunal, the final arbiter of electoral disputes.
Lopez Obrador lashed out at Calderon, claiming the Harvard-trained conservative served "a very powerful interest group in Mexico that for quite a while has converted the government into a committee at the service of a minority."
"This group not only has no interest in improving the life of millions of Mexicans, but has profound contempt for the poor," Lopez Obrador said at a news conference before the rally.
Asked about foreign leaders, including US President George W. Bush, who congratulated Calderon on his victory, Lopez Obrador insisted "there is no president-elect in Mexico."
The electoral tribunal has until September 6 to render its final verdict on the outcome of the July 2 election.
Calderon, 43, who won with an advantage of just over 244,000 votes, or 0.6 percentage points, dismissed claims of fraud during the electoral process, which a number of international observers called free and fair.
He said that now was the time for Mexicans to put the campaign disputes behind them and work to create a politically stable country attractive to foreign investors.
Speaking to journalists on Friday, Calderon said that battling poverty, which affects half the 103 million population, would be one of his top priorities.
He urged the United States to invest in economically depressed areas of Mexico to create badly-needed jobs.
This he said would be far more effective in halting illegal migration to the United States than a wall the US administration plans to build along the border. Last year, an estimated 400,000 Mexicans crossed the border illegally, often risking their lives trekking along deserts and arid mountains.
The next president will have to deal with a divided Congress, after the PAN got the most votes for the House and the Senate but fell well short of an outright majority.
I'm sure Jimmy Carter is on his way to endorse the Communistos.
Maybe a North American Civil war.
I swear...that pic shows how ole Al could play the role of Norman Bates!
I'm telling ya....after his loss, ole Al snapped like a dry twig.
wow...it seems in the past 30 minutes the crowd has multiplied some four-fold...
everyone in the lame-stream-media was reporting "100,000 take to the streets in Mexico" earlier tonight...
The other half wants to take from them the fruit of their labors."
Like half the US and like half of the world.
You got that right.
"Yes, it's about to turn violent in Mexico. Communists have not changed that much since Mao said, “Every good Communist should know that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. The Communist party must control the guns.”
Communists tried to take Mexico with the vote, and they lost. Now they will revert back to what has worked for them before, and that is violence."
If they try this, we must assassinate AMLO. We must do everything in our power to prevent a communist state on our southern border. Anyone who has seen "Red Dawn" knows why.
How would we know? Maybe 12-20 million economic refugees would violate our border. Wait a minute.......
that has already happened. Well, perhaps the Mexican currency would collapse......
That has already happened three times.
I know, the Mexican government might blame the bad yankee gringos for all of their problems, and incite the population to participate in a "popular uprising".
Yeah, that's the ticket.
Sounds like the Democrats.
One of my all-time favorites!
Obragore had the protests planned before the vote. That's what he does. If Calderon hangs on, Obragore will still be playing the street theatre game to mess things up. Right out of the playbook.
What a strange few days this has been. Yet another bot who I agree with something on. This truly must be the start of the apocolypse!
Thanks. You are preaching to the choir with me, yet it is great to get information out to the build-a-wall crowd.
You are getting 'wordy' like some other people I know, lol.
The drive-by media does it again. Mexico City has almost 30 million people. If there were 280,000 and even if 400,000 it's a total joke. A whopping 1.3% (if there were 400,000) of the population of Mexico City turned out to scream and holler. Of the 41,000,000+ who voted...it is only .975% of those who are protesting. Boo hoo!
The nice thing about a choir is that many voices in unison makes a lot of noise.
I'll blow A440 on the pitch pipe, then a-one, a-two-, a-three....
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