Do I hear two votes? Two, two...? Yes, two votes. Do I hear three?
Posted on 11/20/2006 1:25:20 PM PST by Uncledave
Mexico leftist to swear in as "legitimate president"
By Kieran Murray Mon Nov 20, 1:19 PM ET
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's leftist opposition leader was to swear in as "legitimate president" on Monday to revive his flagging campaign against a July election he says was rigged and to prevent his conservative rival from running the country.
Tens of thousands of supporters were expected to cram into Mexico City's vast Zocalo square to see Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador take an oath of office in a ceremony that has no legal weight but could mark the start of new street protests.
Ruling party conservative Felipe Calderon won the July 2 election by a razor-thin margin and Mexico's top election court threw out Lopez Obrador's claims of massive fraud,
The leftist crippled central Mexico City for several weeks after the election by setting up protests camps, but his campaign has since faded.
At his swearing-in ceremony on the anniversary of the start of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, Lopez Obrador will detail his plans to run a parallel government and may call for new protests against Calderon.
Lawmakers from his Party of the Democratic Revolution have vowed to prevent Calderon from taking office in the Chamber of Deputies on December 1, and Lopez Obrador says his rival cannot rest easy.
"He knows that he didn't win, that he is the product of an electoral fraud. That can not give him peace of mind. No matter how cynical he is, he can not feel secure," Lopez Obrador said in an interview in the La Jornada newspaper on Monday. "Calderon is the lowly servant of the white-collar criminals."
Federal police have already set up barricades around the Chamber of Deputies to prevent Lopez Obrador's supporters from setting up new protest camps there in coming days.
CLASS DIVIDE
The election highlighted a deep class divide in Mexico.
Lopez Obrador campaigned for president on promises to attack poverty, end two decades of free-market reforms and create jobs with ambitious public works programs.
While he drew strong support from the poor, many business leaders and middle-class Mexicans feared he would put the country in debt and scare off investment.
Washington was concerned Lopez Obrador would put Mexico in an anti-U.S. group of Latin American nations led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
In contrast, Calderon plans to continue the pro-business policies of outgoing President Vicente Fox and is likely to be a firm ally of the United States.
In the weeks after the July election, about a third of Mexicans believed Lopez Obrador was robbed of victory, but that number has apparently declined in recent months.
A poll in the Reforma newspaper on Monday showed that 56 percent of those questioned oppose his decision to name himself "legitimate president" while just 19 percent back him.
"He is a clown. He lost and it's time he recognized it," office worker Veronica Bernal said as she ate breakfast at a cafe in an affluent Mexico City neighborhood.
Lopez Obrador's backers insist they will not give up.
"He was a hope for a lot of people. That's why they committed fraud," said Victor Saavedra, a construction worker who planned to attend Lopez Obrador's swearing-in ceremony even though he believes Calderon will be able to take office. "I don't think it will change, but what they did is not right."
I don't see a happy ending for this story... for Mexico or its neighbors.
"J"
Bush should send troops in to depose Calderon and install Obrador.
Did James Earl Carter administer the oath of office?
Obrador is Spanish for "Gore"""
I almost peed my pants laughing at that comment. Thanks..
Even Gore and Kerry didn't go quite this far. Almost.
I call him Gore-cia.
And I'm being crowned Queen of England next month.
Do I hear two votes? Two, two...? Yes, two votes. Do I hear three?
FYI, this is called a "civil war."
The Gorinch who stole democracy.
"He is a clown. He lost and it's time he recognized it," office worker Veronica Bernal said...
I hate to break the news to you, Veronica, but the lefties will be saying "we was robbed" 50 years from now. That's who they are.
Mob Rule, organized by evil individuals for sinister and selfish purposes, threatening the very people DEMONstrating. Same old Communist technique for takeover.
I've got an idea: Why don't they go into business together? They should start the 'International Sore Losers Consulting Firm' which would advise losers on how to try and cheat their way into a victory.
Yeah. Those with class and those without. (Same as the difference between almost everyone else versus the left here in America.)
Clearly -- the bastard needs to be shot.
Leftists simply will never give up....never accept defeat....never play by the rules.....never stop lying or bitching......never stop stirring $hit.
A stake must be driven through their freaking hearts to get any peace.
Semper Fi
It's hard to see a happy ending for Mexico, period. As the article points out, there is a vast cultural divide in Mexico, one that can't be overstated, and one that can't be sustained forever. The effect is manifest in so many ways, a corrosive, all-pervasive corruption that saps the national spirit is just one among others. The root of the problem is that they never finished their revolution: in the end, they just ran out bullets and wound up pretty much where they began, twelve years later.
After the November 7 elections, all of the Republican losers at every political level throughout the U.S. should also do the exact same things that Mexico is presently doing at the Presidential level and also create a "parallel government" full of Republicans!
No, we don't want to install a Chavez backed commie.
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