MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lopez Obrador challenges Calderon victory demands recount

Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador rejected Thursday the official vote tally as “flawed” and called his supporters to fill Mexico City's central square to press his demand for a ballot-by-ballot recount.

Mr. Lopez Obrador made the announcement when the almost completed official tally, 99.91%) showed his Conservative rival Felipe Calderon from the ruling PAN, National Action Party, leading by less than half a percentage point in last Sunday's election, the tightest ever in Mexican history.

Although the Federal Electoral Institute, or IFE, did not formally declare a winner, the advantage enjoyed by Calderon is mathematically insurmountable: with 99.91% of votes counted, Calderon has 35.87% and Lopez Obrador's 35.32%.

"We have decided to challenge the election process and go to the Electoral Court of the judicial branch of the federation for a recount of the votes because we cannot accept the results" released by the IFE, Lopez Obrador said.

The Electoral Court has until Aug. 31 to rule on the challenge and make a final decision on whose Mexico's next elected president who takes office December first.

"We won Sunday's election, we're going to the Court" Lopez Obrador said prior to the release of the IFE figures and after stating that before, during and after the election "there were many irregularities, to put it in the mildest terms". Among problems mentioned is the "manipulation" of preliminary vote results.

Lopez Obrador claims the preliminary vote results, PREP, which was in operation from Sunday to Monday, released figures that "gave the impression that the right's candidate had won", adding that "thousands of precincts were not taken into account by PREP".

Mr. Calderon and his supporters celebrated at PAN headquarters the IFE figures early Thursday showing he had overtaken Lopez Obrador in the presidential election. In a conciliatory speech Mr. Calderon called for "reconciliation" asking his rivals to set differences aside and put the country's needs first.

Just hours after the election ended on Sunday, both Calderon and Lopez Obrador claimed victory.

Lopez Obrador said he had not perceived a "democratic spirit from the government or from the candidate of the right" stressing on the "numerous doubts" and suspicions IFE' attitude has generated by "not acting straight forward".

The PRD candidate said he would join his supporters for a rally on Saturday in Mexico City's Zocalo, the country's largest public plaza, to demand a "vote-by-vote" recount.

Analysts believe that if the vote difference in favour of Mr. Calderon is less than the number of void, blank and annulled ballots, the Electoral Court will be forced to accept the recount challenge.