BBC News is reporting that the Mexican Presidential vote is
too close to call. This is a VERY important election, and it may have important repercussions for Mexican-American relations. Details over the flip.
I'm excerpting the article quoted above for Fair Use reasons and readibility.
A quick vote count based on sample figures had been expected to generate a result within hours of polls closing.
But with the leftist and a conservative candidates running almost neck and neck, officials have decided to count all votes before declaring the winner. (emphasis added)
Election officials said a winner would not be announced before Wednesday.
What does it say about where we are as a nation when Mexican elections have more integrity than ours? Of course, there's another parallel here:
"According to our data we have won the vote by at least 500,000 votes. This is irreversible," said Mr Lopez Obrador.
Thousands of his supporters gathered in the rain in the city's central square shouted "Fraud! Fraud!", the Associated Press news agency reported.
Shortly afterwards, Mr Calderon of the governing National Action Party (PAN) party, pointed to several projections that showed him leading and announced: "We have won the presidential elections."
Street celebrations broke out in both camps after the announcements.
So far, people have been peaceful, but tensions are clearly rising. Luckily, unlike the US, Mexico has a clear protocol to follow here: an official vote count will be conducted, and results will be announced Wednesday. The question is: will both factions support it?
This election was considered to be one of the most important in years. After decades of control by the PRI, Vicente Fox had successfully taken over the country and installed a conservative government. Calderon is widely seen as his successor, while Lopez Obrador is seen as a more liberal option. In governments with shaky democracies, the second election is often as important as the first one, because it tests the willingness of the new party to cede power. That's an even bigger issue with a very close, disputed election like this one, especially if corruption is an issue (and it very often is in the developing world). As many diaries here have said, "push" factors of domestic policy inside Mexico are major drivers of illegal immigration. Though Fox started out close to Bush, he took a fairly broad view of these migrants -- they contribute a ton of money to the economy. It is almost certain that we'll see some impact of this election over our borders.
Not much analysis in this diary, but I thought the parallels were interesting. I'd love to hear more from anyone with more experience in Mexican politics.
Poll and Story edited for naming conventions/spelling