Mexico's Electoral Tribunal Finds No Evidence of Fraud (Says Mexican Left Made No Case)

The Herald (Mexico Edition) ^ | August 29, 2006 | El Universal wire services

[StJacques]

Tribunal finds no evidence of fraud

Wire services
El Universal
August 29, 2006

The nation's top electoral court announced Monday that a partial recount of the votes in the disputed presidential election found no evidence of widespread fraud, a ruling that placed conservative Felipe Calderón tantalizingly close to victory.

In a 7-0 ruling, the Federal Electoral Tribunal said it had found only minor mathematical and administrative errors in the initial vote count of the July 2 election. The tribunal said Monday its recount subtracted just 4,183 votes from Calderón's margin of victory, reducing it to about 240,000 over left-leaning candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

The panel still could refuse to certify the election, in part based on López Obrador's contention that President Vicente Fox and business groups illegally aided Calderón's campaign. Such a decision appeared unlikely, political observers said.

The tribunal said the smattering of administrative and mathematical errors in thousands of polling places were not acts of "bad faith" and did not merit throwing out the results of those polling places.

"This tribunal can say to the citizenry that their votes were counted fairly," said magistrate Fernando Ojesto. "We have followed the principle of one man, one vote, and of effective suffrage."

The jurists also rebuked the López Obrador campaign, saying it had failed to provide concrete evidence of irregularities in the thousands of challenged precincts where it had claimed fraud.

"The plaintiff says there are multiple irregularities in a large number of precincts or in this or that district," said tribunal President Leonel Castillo, referring to the López Obrador campaign. "Well, that `large number' is not enough. The law says you must specify evidence and facts."

The tribunal has until Sept. 6 to name the winner of the election. Political tension and uncertainty have gripped Mexico for weeks, with López Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) threatening to make the country ungovernable if Calderón becomes president.

Both candidates made only brief remarks about the ruling.

López Obrador told supporters "I was expecting it."

Calderón said the ruling would "eliminate the insidious doubts" his opponents "want to spread among the citizenry."

Earlier this month, the court ordered about 4 million votes recounted but declined the PRD's demand to recount all 41 million votes.

López Obrador, the 53-year-old former Mayor of Mexico City, led in most of the final polls a week before the election. Analysts say Calderón made up ground on his rival with a sophisticated media campaign that portrayed the leftist as a dangerous radical who would bankrupt the country.

Outside the tribunal's headquarters, a small number of López Obrador backers protested the ruling, chanting, "The people voted! Obrador won!"

Thousands of supporters of the leftist candidate have occupied much of this capital city's central avenue, Paseo de la Reforma, since July 30, tying up traffic and enraging commuters. They have said they will remain in place during Mexico's patriotic celebrations on Sept. 15 and 16.

"Everything indicates that (Calderón) will be imposed as president," said Leonel Cota, national leader of the PRD.

López Obrador said on Sunday that a Calderón presidency would amount to a "virtual coup d'etat" and called on his followers to form either a parallel government or a national movement of "peaceful civil disobedience."

Hundreds of López Obrador's supporters also are occupying the city's main plaza, the Zócalo, where Lopez Obrador has said he will hold a "National Assembly" on Sept. 16, Mexico's Independence Day.

Fox has said he will defy the leftist protesters and deliver his traditional Independence Day "yell" in the Zocalo on the night of Sept. 15.

On Monday, President Fox made his strongest public condemnation yet of López Obrador and the blockades.

"We can't allow personal ambitions to place at risk the most valuable thing the Mexican people have built -- our laws and institutions," Fox told a meeting of fishermen in the northern state of Tamaulipas. "Society has rejected time and again the path of violence, division and confrontation."

Calderón, a 44-year-old former energy secretary under Fox and a longtime activist in the National Action Party, has kept a low profile in recent weeks.

On Monday, National Action Party leaders said the tribunal's ruling was a step forward for Mexico's democratic institutions.

"We have said from the beginning that we will respect the decision of the tribunal," said Juan Molinar Horcasitas, a party spokesman. "All the arguments that have been made about to question the cleanliness of this election have been collapsing one by one."

  

[StJacques]

There is a near complete meltdown among the PRD and their leftist allies in Mexico City right now. The PRD says that "annulling the election is the only way out of a political crisis now." The legislative delegation of the party is refusing to show up for quorum calls in the preliminary sessions of the national legislature so that no floor speakers can be elected and they are attempting to convince the PRI, the PVEM (Green Party), and Neuva Alianza to join with them to prevent the PAN party from getting the Speaker's job in the lower house of the legislature. The PRD also refuses to send any of its party representatives to the customary "courtesy delegation" that accompanies the President (Vicente Fox) to the podium when he delivers his (State of the Union equivalent) national address to the Mexican Congress on September 1. And AMLO is still down in the Zocalo shouting that he and his followers will set up a parallel leftist government and that they are acting constitutionally under Article 39 of the Mexican Constitution.

So there you have it. Tempers are very very hot among the PRD right now.

[StJacques]

A Mex-Elex ping for you all.

I have more details to provide from Mexican sources, but I've got to cut my grass before the sun goes down, while it's a little cooler outside. Back in an hour or so.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the post.....

[BenLurkin]

"This tribunal can say to the citizenry that their votes were counted fairly,"

So what? It didn't stop the whiners in 2000.

[Rhetorical pi2]

Get Algore and John Kerry Heinz out of Mexico!!

It's over guys!! Over!

[Enterprise]

OK - looking forward to it!!

[gridlock]

But, but, but... We didn't win, therefore it MUST be fraud. After all, the People love us so much more than those other guys!

[Dog Gone]

Definitely bears watching. When lefties go bezerk, it always turns out badly.

[South40]

[spinestein]

[The nation's top electoral court announced Monday that a partial recount of the votes in the disputed presidential election found no evidence of widespread fraud...

The jurists also rebuked the López Obrador campaign, saying it had failed to provide concrete evidence of irregularities in the thousands of challenged precincts where it had claimed fraud....

Political tension and uncertainty have gripped Mexico for weeks, with López Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) threatening to make the country ungovernable if Calderón becomes president....

Earlier this month, the court ordered about 4 million votes recounted but declined the PRD's demand to recount all 41 million votes....

Thousands of supporters of the leftist candidate have occupied much of this capital city's central avenue, Paseo de la Reforma, since July 30, tying up traffic and enraging commuters....
"Everything indicates that (Calderón) will be imposed as president," said Leonel Cota, national leader of the PRD....López Obrador said on Sunday that a Calderón presidency would amount to a "virtual coup d'etat" and called on his followers to form either a parallel government or a national movement of "peaceful civil disobedience."]




It's just amazing to me how much of this is taken right from our 2000 election. Candidate A wins the election but candidate B is a sore loser so he screams "fraud" without any evidence whatsoever and demands that the courts start recounting votes using a different standard more favorable to him, though prohibited by law. He then gets his fanatic supporters to start protesting in the streets in an effort to disrupt daily life for average citizens and promises that if his opponent becomes the president, it won't be legitimate and no one should accept him.

I'm convinced that the Mexican PRD has purposely copied this plan of action from our Democratic Party and will continue to do so throughout Calderón's presidency. Now we can only wait with anticipation for the inevitable cries (in Spanish) of "IT'S ALL CALDERON'S FAULT!"

[Graymatter]

shouting that he and his followers will set up a parallel leftist government and that they are acting constitutionally under Article 39 of the Mexican Constitution.

Eh? I'd have thought it called for getting stood up against a wall and offered a smoke. Must check my copy of the Mexican Constitution...

[ladyinred]

They don't have to make a case. They will just whine during the entire term of the duly elected government claiming they were robbed, cheated, etc. The left has a game plan they work all over the world now. Wait until our election!

[Valin]

So when does the civil war start?

[Codename - Ron Benjamin]

"Article 39" doesn't apply. It's Lopez again on the delusion of "The people is Me". Said article reads something like "the goverment comes from the people", and, as a good commie, AMLO says that the people can't possibly desire anyting besides him.

[StJacques]

". . . I'm convinced that the Mexican PRD has purposely copied this plan of action from our Democratic Party and will continue to do so throughout Calderón's presidency. . . ."

I keep rolling the idea around in my head to research what role if any American lefties may be playing in this entire affair. I'm serious about that, because what I really wonder is whether the Dem activists have formed ties with Cuban, Venezuelan, and Bolivian activists who have been proven to be active on Lopez Obrador's behalf in this recent presidential election.

". . . Now we can only wait with anticipation for the inevitable cries (in Spanish) of "IT'S ALL CALDERON'S FAULT!""

That would be translated as ¡TODO ES LA CULPA DE CALDERóN!

[Reaganez]

"Analysts say Calderón made up ground on his rival with a sophisticated media campaign that portrayed the leftist as a dangerous radical who would bankrupt the country. "

THANKS DICK MORRIS !!!

You make yourself usefull every once in a while!

[FlingWingFlyer]

Looks like Hugo Chavez is going to have to find himself a new butt boy.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

The left has a game plan they work all over the world now.

Yes. In the words of Frederick Douglas, it's called "Agitate. Agitate. Agitate."

Agitation is OK if the agitators have morality on their side. Regarding the totalitarian Left, this is certainly not the case. Thus, a proper response should be "You are under arrest. You are under arrest. You are under arrest."

[Shuttle Shucker]

Let's not forget the gains Calderon made when:

*it became clearer that immigration amnesty wouldn't be possible this term, and Mexico would have to solve more of its problems; and soon thereafter:

*ObraGore intentionally didn't even show up for the first (of two) debates... There would have been more but ObraGore didn't want 'em.

Mexicans noticed...

Felipe slipped because of allegations involving his brother-in-law right before the elections, but as Bush rebounded despite the late-announced DUI news, Felipe came through. ObraGore will need a straightjacket to stay out of the way though...It's too profitable for him to keep whining. The PRD doesn't seem to care that it's burning bridges that it will need later. Since when did Leftists think about the long term consequences of their emotion-based actions?

[Shuttle Shucker]

Even the New York Times is finally telling ObraGore to cool it!

http://www.el-universal.com.mx/notas/371658.html

Meanwhile, TRIFE ruled against Gorebrador 7-0. Not even a divided court...

Isn't it sad how much ObraGoreLoserman has cost Mexico in foreign investment? Here are some examples in the real estate industry:

http://www.el-universal.com.mx/notas/371733.html