When the presidential candidate on the left of the political divide is named president by a court, it conjures bad memories for many Americans. So what about when such a court ruling sends a right-wing president into power in Mexico? From the Guardian:
“Mexico’s highest electoral court has confirmed that the conservative governing party candidate, Felipe Calderón, has won the country’s disputed presidential poll, throwing out the argument made by his leftist rival Andrés Manuel López Obrador that the election was so unfair it should be annulled. An emotional crowd in the capital’s great Zócalo plaza – the headquarters of Mr López Obrador’s protest movement – greeted the ruling with anger, defiance and some heartfelt sobs.”
The court did agree that there were flaws in the election:
“The complaints included President Fox’s use of the state apparatus to favour the governing party candidate during the campaign, as well as negative advertising that compared the leftist candidate to Venezuela’s controversial President Hugo Chávez. The magistrates identified some of these as problematic but did not consider them serious enough to question the legality of the election”
So the court decided in favor of Calderon (by a 7-0 vote as compared to the 5-4 split in Bush v. Gore) and the innauguartion is set for December 1. But Obrador doesn’t see it that way:
“The former mayor of Mexico City did not give any immediate public reaction, although in recent days he has made it clear that this is far from the end of the story. In speeches foreseeing the adverse ruling, he has begun to transform his claims of fraud into an active challenge to the legitimacy of the country’s institutional order.”
Is Obrador right to continue challenging? It’s not clear, but an American on the left after seeing the 2000 and 2004 elections could be forgiven for thinking that he might have a point.
[photo: AP]