MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mexico: massive political rally and 400 claims

Mexico's populist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador organized this Sunday another massive political rally in the heart of Mexico City to demand a vote by vote recount of the July 2 presidential election ballot.

Felipe Calderon the Conservative candidate from the ruling National Action Party, PAN, according to the Mexican Electoral Institute came ahead with a 0.54% vote difference, a result which has been challenged by the Party of the Democratic Revolution and their candidate former mayor of Mexico City, Lopez Obrador.

This Sunday's was the third such massive "peaceful civil resistance" march which included the opposition coalition main leaders, political allies and an estimated gathering anywhere between 400.000 and two million people, according to the Public Security Secretariat or the organizers of the rally.

Posters and banners from demonstrators which had begun gathering from all over Mexico Saturday evening said "Down with the fraud" and "Lopez Obrador President".

Lopez Obrador was expected to announce further "peaceful civil resistance" measures to keep up the pressure on the Federal Electoral Tribunal, which has the final word on election results and so far has not proclaimed a winner.

The Tribunal has until August 31 to address demands and challenges, but Mexican legislation does not contemplate a vote by vote recount. At the latest on September 6, the successor of President Vicente Fox must be officially proclaimed.

Lopez Obrador and the PRD are contesting electoral tally sheets which "mathematically are full of errors", since the number of registered voters, actual voters, ballots and unaccounted ballots don't coincide in "at least 72.197 of the 130.000" documents.

"At first we had indications of our victory and that a big fraud had been plotted. Now I'm completely and absolutely convinced that we effectively won and we have all the elements to back it up", indicated Lopez Obrador. "If there's a vote recount, we win, the people wins", he insisted.

Earlier on the Federal Electoral Institute admitted some "inconsistencies" in 2.873 districts which were reviewed but insists that "errors" have proved "fair for both sides".

However more important a regional office from the Federal Electoral Tribunal in the city of Guadalajara rejected a vote by vote recount demand in those districts, but according to the Mexican press is considering the "impugnation" of the presidential election, which has "no historic precedent".

The Guadalajara Tribunal ruled that "there was no specific evidence to support extended claims of irregularities".

The Mexican press reports that there are 400 other similar claims in different regional Federal Electoral Tribunal offices all over the country.