Roberto Jorquera
Mexicans went to the polls on July 2 to elect a new president. Officially, Felipe Calderon from the pro-business National Action Party won by 0.58%. However, it has become increasingly clear that the elections were stolen by Calderon with the help of the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE). Opponents of Calderon have responded with mass demonstrations in the country's capital.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the opposition candidate from the Alliance For the Good of All coalition, which includes the Party of the Democratic Revolution, has claimed he won the vote. Obrador, who ran under the slogan "For the good of all, the poor first", has called for a national campaign of civil disobedience. On July 9, within a week of the election, close to 1 million people protested at the central square in Mexico City condemning the fraud.
A number of irregularities in the ballot have been discovered, including votes being dumped at local garbage tips, votes not being counted in Obrador strongholds and extra votes being counted in areas where Calderon had greater support.
Obrador held another demonstration at the Zocalo (Mexico City's central plaza) on July 16, which was attended by hundreds of thousands protesting the vote-rigging. At the gathering Obrador thanked the protesters and said: "You are here not only to support a person but to support the irrefutable right of a people to freely elect its government representatives. For that reason we must be very clear about the central objective of our movement. We will not only fight for the right to have our legitimate triumph in the presidential elections recognised, but also for a greater cause to make democracy count in our country."
Obrador told protesters that "We can not accept a set back, a overturn of democracy. In the recent political history of our country, the opening up of free and open elections has cost us much sacrifice, including the death of thousands of Mexican's ... We can not accept that with illegality, money and traps a privileged group is able to impose on us a illegitimate president ...
"We can not allow that they take away our right to hope. For that reason I repeat that the central objective of this movement is the defense of democracy."
Obrador's coalition has stated that the IFE has illegally opened electoral boxes and not disclosed their content. Obrador claims that over 60% of the polling booths had irregularities.
The IFE has until August 31 to make a decision on the elections, before declaring a winner on September 6. Obrador and his supporters have demanded that all 41 million votes that were estimated to have been cast in the presidential election be recounted — "vote by vote, booth by booth".
Obrador has announced that a civil coalition will plan a campaign against the electoral fraud and he has called for another mass mobilisation on July 30.