MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

NYT warns on the rich/poor split in Mexico

Mexico's populist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador should end the protests and pledge to respect the Federal Electoral Tribunal's final decision which has until September 6 to make public the definitive results of the July 2 presidential election, says The New York Times.

The former mayor of the City of Mexico alleges that a concerted electoral fraud deprived him of victory and has encouraged his supporters for eight weeks to a campaign of "civil resistance" and protests with squatter camps that have paralyzed parts of Mexico City.

His insistent claims forced the Federal Electoral Tribunal to review a percentage of the polling places, but on Monday the magistrates ruled that errors were committed but insufficient to alter the overall results.

The New York Times says that the electoral tribunal has not yet declared that Felipe Calderón, of the ruling National Action Party, is Mexico's next president. It has until September 6 to rule on whether President Vicente Fox and business groups interfered illegally in the election.

"No one should ask Mr. López Obrador to concede before this ruling. But it is time for him to end the protests and pledge to respect the tribunal's final decision".

Further on the newspaper admits that since Lopez Obrador trails Calderon by less than 0.6% of the vote, a full recount would have settled the question, "in a country where electoral fraud used to be routine, a full recount would indeed have been best".

The New York Times points out that the vote was apparently well run, there is a clear and thorough process in place to deal with challenges and the electoral tribunal is respected and independent. "Mr. López Obrador's continued insistence that he was robbed now sounds like whining. If he does not desist, his party, now the country's second-largest, should decide that it is bigger than him and that its role is as opposition within, not outside, democratic processes".

But the editorial is also harsh with Mr. Calderón lack of political tact, "he erred in opposing a recount. And while his advisers insist that they do not need the Party of the Democratic Revolution to govern effectively, they are wrong: Mr. Calderón has less than 36% of the vote, and his own party fell short of a majority in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The country is split by class and geography, with the wealthy northern states supporting Mr. Calderón and the poorer south supporting Mr. López Obrador".

In the summing up the influential US newspaper highlights that if Mr. Calderon can govern alone "he would be making policy in an echo chamber of Mexico's elite".

"Mr. López Obrador has flaws that have apparently kept him from the presidency. But that does not mean that the millions of Mexicans who feel represented by him should have no voice".