Mérida, Yucatán --
The Federal Electoral Institute is still busy tonight in Mexico City, tallying the last of Sunday's estimated 50 million ballots. When they're done, they'll begin an automatic recount of every one, a task they've been preparing for many months.
But defeated PRI candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador wasted no time in making his displeasure known, telling a packed, nationally broadcast press conference earlier this evening that he plans to challenge the final results by every legal means possible.
"This election was plagued with irregularities," he said in a calm and steady voice. "We're going to proceed in accord with the law."
As of 11:00 p.m., with about 98% of the vote counted, PAN candidate Enrique Peña Nieto remains in first place with 38.11% of the vote, and López Obrador is in second place with 31.68%, a difference of about 6.5%. That represents about 3.2 million votes.
Although this year's election was much closer than most analysts had predicted and the last poll published on June 27 had suggested, the distance between the candidates is considerably greater than in 2006, when president Calderón narrowly squeaked by AMLO with a mere half percent of the total vote cast. Many López Obrador supporters claimed fraud six years ago, and some still refer to him as the "legitimate president" of Mexico. But the argument is much harder to make now, with more decisive numbers separating the two men in a four person race.
López Obrador was thin on specifics during the at times tense press conference, but complained of "media distortion" of the campaign by favoritism supposedly shown to Peña Nieto, especially by the electronic media. That's a controversial topic which surfaced in a big way here in June. U.K.'s Guardian reveals Televisa-EPN deal; U.S. diplomats troubled by Televisa-Peña Nieto links in 2009, charges The Guardian.
When asked by a reporter if he had evidence of "actual fraud," López Obrador replied in the affirmative, and claimed that votes were bought. But he offered no details, other than to say that the results so far reported by Mexico's IFE "bear no relationship to reality. All of our evidence will be presented in due course."
The candidate also charged that those who voted for Peña Nieto did so "to maintain the (PRI) regime of corruption," and added, "we can't accept fraudulent results."
July 15 - Spain's El País blasts López Obrador
July 13 - Manuel López Obrador fires in all directions, demanding a new election
July 12 - PAN agrees, it's impossible to prove that 25% of vote was tampered with
July 12 - López Obrador pide se invalide la elección presidencial
July 11 - Memo to Andrés Manuel López Obrador: "Ya basta, señor"
July 11 - Desinflan Marcelo Ebrard y Núñez el caso "compra de votos"
July 11 - PRD official admits that "it's impossible to prove votes were bought"
July 10 - Difunden tickets de Soriana con leyenda "Beneficios PRI"
July 9 - La Fepade investiga la relación de Soriana con compra de votos
July 9 - Nulidad o invalidez, opciones que analiza López Obrador en los comicios
July 8 - Rising protests against Enrique Peña Nieto
July 6 - López Obrador es un "mal perdedor," segun Enrique Peña Nieto
July 6 - La elección fue comprada, afirma AMLO
July 2 - AMLO: "No corresponden los resultados a la realidad"
Yo Soy 132 demonstrators in Mérida, May 23. Their main target was the media - with a dash of anti-PRI, anti-Enrique Peña Nieto thrown in for good measure.
July 2 - Enrique Peña Nieto captures presidency, returns Los Pinos to PRI
July 1 - Mexico's IFE, others declare Enrique Peña Nieto the winner
Note: Last year international whistle blower Wikileaks released sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables suggesting that in the 2006 Mexican presidential election, this country's powerful Roman Catholic Church sought U.S. assistance in derailing López Obrador's campaign, due to its terror of a leftist president. Mexican Cardinal Urges U.S. to "Stop the Leftist Candidates." The U.S. never responded to the allegations, but the Mexican Church did, harshly denouncing them as an effort to create tensions between the clergy and the state.
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