Liberals and other social forces are struggling to understand the impact of yesterday's ruling by Mexico's supreme electoral court (the TEPJF for short) which ordered a hand recount of original paper ballots for 11,839 of 130,477 "casillas" or polling stations around the country -- over 9% of all polling stations, a ruling based in very specific measures of which polling stations the liberal coalition had challenged in their suit and for which they had provided strong evidence.
The liberal coalition had been demanding -- in court and in massive street protests -- a full recount. The US media are split between reporting this as a rejection of the liberals' call for a full recount and an
And at this very moment liberal (11am local time, 12 noon eastern US) candidate Andres Manual Lopez Obrador (AMLO for short) prepares to lead a rally in the Zocalo, the central plaza of Mexico City, in which thousands of supporters are gathering after yesterday's 7pm court decision.
Opinions are strongly divided in reaction to the ruling.
One thing is for sure -- for now, the post-electoral 'crisis' continues, and still without clear resolution.
{In the July 2nd presidential election, right-wing candidate Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, of the currently ruling party PAN (National Action Party) was pronounced the leading vote recipient by the IFE, the Federal Electoral Institute. IFE found that Calderon had received 0.58% more votes (roughly 243,000) than the next leading candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Por el Bien de Todos ("For the Common Good") liberal coalition. Former ruling party PRI candidate Roberto Madrazo was not in close contention. For a variety of claims based in suspicions of fraud in vote counting, patterns of voter disenfranchisement on election day, and illegal interference in the election by the government and corporations, the PBT coalition sued in the TEPJF, the Electoral Court charged by the Mexican Political Constitution with handling election resolution.}
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Chief judge defends integrity of electoral system
BY JAMES C. MCKINLEY JR.
El Universal
Domingo 06 de agosto de 2006
Miami Herald, página 1
Leonel Castillo, the chief judge of the Federal Electoral Tribunal, on Saturday defended the integrity of the nation´s electoral system in general, pointing out fraud was nearly impossible because citizens chosen at random and trained to be poll workers were responsible for counting the vote on election night.
"Citizens provide the certainty of the computation process," he said. "This is the method and the way that the law makes the elections certain."
Other judges echoed his view, rejecting the contention that there was a plot among poll workers in some states to pad the totals of the ruling party candidate, Felipe Calderón.
"The election method is ingenious," Magistrate Mauro Miguel Reyes said. "It´s ingenious, and we can assume it is secure, because it is the citizens who conduct it and organize it."
But there was apparently still a chance that a further recount could be ordered. Lorenzo Córdova, a law professor who specializes in election law, said the court could order a recount of more polling places later on if the recount revealed signs of fraud.
"This recount, although it´s partial, will permit one to find evidence of whether there was fraud or not," he said. "It opens the door to the possibility of knowing if (Andrés Manuel) López Obrador´s accusations have merit or not."
The judges ordered that the votes in the July 2 election be recounted in only 11,839 of the 130,000 polling places. They rejected López Obrador´s argument that there were enough human errors and, in some instances, enough evidence of fraud to warrant recounting all 41 million votes.
They also noted the left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) had failed to challenge the results in 70 electoral districts, and that under law, those results must stand.
Protesters camping out in the Zócalo clung to the hope that additional recounts could be ordered. Most reacted with calm to news of the court decision, though many said they would continue to exert pressure on the government.
"What is certain is that a lot more problems are going to emerge from the partial recount," said Pedro Ramos, 42, a civil engineer from Culiacán, Sinaloa, one of about 100 from his state camping on cots under a giant tarp.
Others said the ruling was no surprise, since they consider the panel to be part of a corrupt power structure bent on protecting the interests of President Vicente Fox´s party and its allies among business leaders.
"They are rats," Gregorio Silva, 54, an unemployed sailor, said of the judges. "We´re going to keep up the pressure on this corrupt government. We´ll take the airports, the highways, where it hurts them most."
In recent days, López Obrador´s political operatives have said there was a move afoot to bribe the tribunal, though they offered no proof.
Arturo Nuñez and Ricardo Monreal, two lawyers for López Obrador, stormed out of the courthouse before the vote as it became clear the judges would not grant their request.
A spokesman for López Obrador, Cesar Yañez, said the candidate was conferring with his closest advisers, hammering out a plan of action.
The judges ruled there were arithmetic errors and other irregularities that warranted a recount of votes in about 10 percent of the polling places. Those polling places are in 145 of the 300 electoral districts and 26 of the 32 states.
Castillo, the chief magistrate, said López Obrador´s lawyers had failed to provide enough evidence of irregularities to throw the entire count into doubt.
Instead, the panel voted to order electoral judges in those states to conduct the partial recount over five days starting next Wednesday. After the recount, they will rule on whether to annul the results from those polling places and accept the new totals. Next, the judges must certify that the election was fair and name the new president-elect by Sept. 6.
Two hours after issuing their ruling, the judges slipped out of the court building through side doors.