Supporters of Mexican leftist begin massing

MSNBC.com ^ | July 12, 2006 | Associated Press

[StJacques]

Presidential election protests will call for ballot-by-ballot recount

MONTERREY, Mexico - Supporters of leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador headed to Mexico City on Wednesday, leaving mountain towns and sprawling industrial cities to demand a ballot-by-ballot recount.

Protesters gathered outside the country’s 300 electoral districts before heading to the capital, where a mass rally is planned for Sunday to denounce official results showing conservative Felipe Calderon as the apparent winner of the July 2 election.

Carrying signs that read “Vote by vote! No to electoral fraud!” and wearing yellow, the color of Lopez Obrador’s Democratic Revolution Party, dozens of the candidate’s most fervent supporters began a 60-mile walk from his home state of Tabasco.

The protesters, many of whom joined Lopez Obrador in 1995 during months of protests over his loss of the governor’s race in Tabasco state, will travel the last 370 miles of their journey to Mexico City by bus, organizers said.

Lopez Obrador has filed legal appeals challenging the nearly 244,000-vote advantage Calderon had after an official tally of the more than 41 million votes cast. His party has submitted dozens of boxes stuffed with videos, campaign propaganda and other alleged proof of election misconduct.

Throughout his political career, Lopez Obrador has used street protests to pressure the government and the courts. . . .

[StJacques]

The big story here will be the numbers and from what I read in the article, they do not look to be particularly big.

Lopez Obrador and the PRD are going to try to pull off an illusion. They are organizing a number of "protest marches" across the country that likely will only be very small in numbers attending, because his support is really only concentrated in and around Mexico City and the southern states, and announce to everyone that they are "marching to the capital" to converge in a scene of mass indignation with the government for its handling of the counting of the vote in the July 2 election.

However; what is really going on here is that Lopez Obrador and the PRD will be able to wield a lot of muscle in the Mexico City's Federal District and the adjoining state of "Mexico" (there is a state with the national name that surrounds the Federal District capital) and turn out their people there while announcing to the world that people have come "from all over Mexico" to show their indignation with the government. As I said, this is a game of illusion as this is presented to the outside world.

What is not an illusion is the way in which Lopez Obrador is trying to intimidate the federal electoral tribunal in Mexico to give him his vote recount and, I am sure we can all expect, that if he doesn't get a win there (he won't, the counting was fair and Calderon will win a recount) then he will seek to have the election "annulled" -- which is possible under Mexican law -- and the presidential vote held all over again.

And if Lopez Obrador and the Mexican left do not get what they want they are threatening to tear the whole country apart. In a press conference yesterday, Lopez Obrador would not commit himself to accepting the decision of the electoral court if things do not go his way. This could get really dangerous.

[dead]

How do you say "Sore Loserman" in Spanish?

[dead]

Hombre dolorido del perdedor!

[StJacques]

A Mexican post-election ping for you all.

I'm tracking this on the Mexican web sites and I'm not going to have time to translate anything before 5:00 p.m. Central, but look for a post from me later today that will summarize what is going on in the Mexican news sites, because there is a lot going on today. The PRI is denouncing Lopez Obrador and supporting Calderon's election, editorial opinion is clearly going against AMLO, and international opinion is also lining up against him.

But this guy is just so radical and so dangerous that all of that combined may not matter.

[princess leah]

a few gas bombs would break up the crowds!

[MOTR Newbie]

"El Goremano"

[Brilliant]

The violent leftwing revolution is beginning.

[StJacques]

"Hombre dolorido del perdedor!

Not bad dead. But you need that little inverted exclamation point up front of the sentence to finish it.

¡Hombre dolorido del perdedor!

:)

[LurkLongley]

Lopez Obrador!

[StJacques]

It very well could get ugly Brilliant. I hope not, but there are no moral checks on the conscience of the Left. The implications are disquieting to say the least.

[navyguy]

All hands standby for violent riots and pointless property destruction.

Ten... nine... eight...

[Mikey_1962]

Soy Un perdedor,
I am loser baby,
So why dontcha kill me!

-Beck

[wildcatf4f3]

"but we've got the Maxim gun"

[Brilliant]

I don't think it's going to change the result of their election. It might be a cross-roads for Mexico. It might teach them that the leftwing doesn't really want democracy.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

The left only embarrasses itself by trying to intimidate the federal electoral tribunal. If gives us a window into the kind of President Obrador would be. If the congress failed to pass his agenda, would he use intimidation as Hugo Chavez has done in Venezuela? If Mexico is truly a republic, it will not bend to the masses (that happen to be in the minority). Mexico has had several revolutions, and most of them did little to help the country, except for independence from Spain and later from the French. They don't need another one.

[taillightchaser]

Can't be much of a rally since most of them are in the U.S.A. getting free educations and medical care.

[Truth29]

Could this be the lead up to a coup attempt?

[CFC__VRWC]

But this guy is just so radical and so dangerous that all of that combined may not matter.

I wonder how many buses and planes full of ANSWER and MoveOn "activists" are making their way to Mexico City right about now? And which one will Cindy Sheehan be on?

[StJacques]

"Could this be the lead up to a coup attempt?"

The Mexican Army, such as it is, will not side with Lopez Obrador. They take their orders from the civilian government. Ever since the Mexican Revolution of 1911 the Mexican Army has been greatly reduced as a factor in Mexican political life and they do not resemble the influential players that the military has been in countries like El Salvador, Chile, Argentina, Peru, etc.

This could be the lead up to true chaos however. I'm not kidding about that. I still think the forces of order will prevail but this is a pressure cooker on the fire right now.

[kesg]

Thanks for these updates.