Mexico conservative claims tight election win

[rmnunez]

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsAr...race_in_mexico

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's conservative presidential candidate Felipe Calderon declared victory on Monday in a bitterly contested election result as official returns showed him ahead of his left-wing rival. Calderon said his lead was now "irreversible" because he had an advantage of more than 400,000 votes over Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the leftist former mayor of Mexico City, with almost 95 percent of votes counted. "There is an irreversible result and it is in my favor," Calderon said in a television interview, looking confident. "The result give me a very clear victory that cannot be reversed." Lopez Obrador, who had insisted on Sunday night he won the election by 500,000 votes, appeared more open to a possible defeat on Monday morning. "If in the count we conduct, it turns out that the final result does not favor us, I am going to abide by the result," he said. The results and Lopez Obrador's softer tone appeared to reduce the risk of a major political crisis, and Mexico's peso currency jumped in early trade. Election officials said late on Sunday the race was too close to declare a winner and a recount was needed, but Calderon insisted that was no longer necessary.

[bishop]

care to give us a quick snapshot of the difference between these two (or at least the victor's views)?

from an american's perspective, i have a feeling that no matter who wins - neither man will do anything to stop your citizens from illegally invading my country.

[rmnunez]

The leading candidate from the conservative PAN, Calderon (with 38.52% of the vote), promises development, job growth, foreign investment, close comercial and institutional ties with the US and general neoliberalism and is ahead by less than 3% with about 28% of the ballots tallied. The leftist runner-up, Lopez Obrador (35.68%), sought to help the poor, income redistribution, improved relations with Cuba and Venezuela, looser ties to the US, promised massive public works and to build a high speed bullet train from the capital to the border at Nuevo Laredo.

Five hours after the elections, the official preliminary results shows the vote too close to call as the difference between candidates is lower than the margin of error. It will be Wednesday before we know.

[rmnunez]

Lopez Obrador says he will abide by the IFE, but he says the PRD's pollsters report he won (by conteos rapidos he is told he has over half a million more votes than Calderon). He says he thinks the results he now has are irreversible. Marti Bartres announced AMLO won the elections in the Zocalo.

Calderon says a variety of pollsters and conteos rapidos, plus the PREP (official IFE preliminaries) give him the victory without any doubt. But he will abide by the IFE's determination and wait until Wednesday without forsaking his duty to defend every vote. He congratulated the newly and confirmed PAN governors for Guadalajara, Jalisco and others.

The PRI's Madrazo asked the IFE to withhold results and has not made any comments.

[rmnunez]

According to Mitofsky pollsters, PAN’s Calderon got 35%, followed by the PRD’s Lopez Obrador with 31% and the PRI’s Madrazo had 28%.
http://www.esmas.com/noticierostelev...co/547819.html

[rmnunez]

The two candidates, Andres Manuel "First the Poor" Lopez Obrador on the left and Felipe "Clean Hands" Calderon to the right:

[rmnunez]

The official preliminary results shows the vote too close to call as the difference between candidates is lower than the margin of error. These preliminary results are based on review of 128,771 out of 130,788 records from each polling place (98.45% of the records). It will be Wednesday before they start the first recount when they will actually count ballots rather than the record of these. If the preliminary results are accurate, the conservative candidate prevailed by 404,708 votes.

[rmnunez]

Tensions rose after supporters of leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and conservative Felipe Calderon staged rival street celebrations, ignoring an official announcement that Sunday's race was too close to call. A partial count of results issued early Monday, but which authorities had yet to certify, gave a razor-thin edge to Calderon. Before the preliminary results were posted, the leftist candidate claimed to have won by at least half a million votes. "This is irreversible," said Lopez Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor who champions the cause of the millions of impoverished Mexicans. "We will demonstrate our triumph," he told thousands of jubilant supporters in the capital's historic Zocalo square, who also celebrated the victory of his Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) in the capital's mayoral race. http://sg.news.yahoo.com/060703/1/41vg2.html

Nobody expects Lopez Obrador to accept a Calderon victory. He has already announced he will challenge any unfavourable results, says he has a million and a half more votes than Calderon (who is ahead by 400 thousand), has accused the election authority of fraud and says it is manipulated by the government which favours the conservative candidate.

[Zeebadee]

It's apparent from the responses to this post that nobody really gives a good crap about what happens in Mexico except for how it affects the illegal immigration problem. Whomever wins this bogus "election" will continue to work with the fascist regime in Washington to supply a never-ending stream of cheap labor recruits to fill those "jobs that Americans won't do" (at least they won't for $5 an hour). Like the last umpteen elections in the past, it doesn't matter a hoot who wins - nothing is going to change. Mexico will continue to pimp their own people north to clean American toilets, just so they can send the money earned back to support the crooks running this charade. To top it off, they even have most of their "stable" believing that it's the Americans that are ripping these poor saps off.

[Matt W]

Quote by: Zeebadee It's apparent from the responses to this post that nobody really gives a good crap about what happens in Mexico except for how it affects the illegal immigration problem. Whomever wins this bogus "election" will continue to work with the fascist regime in Washington to supply a never-ending stream of cheap labor recruits to fill those "jobs that Americans won't do" (at least they won't for $5 an hour). Like the last umpteen elections in the past, it doesn't matter a hoot who wins - nothing is going to change. Mexico will continue to pimp their own people north to clean American toilets, just so they can send the money earned back to support the crooks running this charade. To top it off, they even have most of their "stable" believing that it's the Americans that are ripping these poor saps off.

Not so. A fair few people are concerned - Washington especially - because they don't particularly want their neighbours following the same ideology as Brazil, Venezuela & Bolivia....

[rmnunez]

That's one way of seeing things Zee, but others differ.

Many, some even here, have postulated Mexican development would help diminish massive migration. Whether Mexico developes and how, depends on who wins.

Corruption is a serious problem and hampers adequate development, whether Mr. "Clean Hands" or the candidate promising to help the poor with massive public works projects is the next president will make a difference.

My concern is that Calderon will ultimately be confirmed, Lopez Obrador will have exhausted recourse and then likely will stage demonstrations. In the capital, where he was mayor, he has a much higher following than nationwide and things will get tense. Lopez Obrador can actually seige the national government and with his buddy Ebrad as successor in City Hall this means municipal law enforcement will be held back and the Federales will have to use force. That will happen next week unless the lefty accepts his defeat and goes off to sulk with his famous predecessor Cuauhtemoc Cardenas (another PRD loser whose victory was allegedly "stolen").

[Marilyn Monroe]

Quote by: rmnunez That's one way of seeing things Zee, but others differ. Many, some even here, have postulated Mexican development would help diminish massive migration. Whether Mexico developes and how, depends on who wins. Corruption is a serious problem and hampers adequate development, whether Mr. "Clean Hands" or the candidate promising to help the poor with massive public works projects is the next president will make a difference. My concern is that Calderon will ultimately be confirmed, Lopez Obrador will have exhausted recourse and then likely will stage demonstrations. In the capital, where he was mayor, he has a much higher following than nationwide and things will get tense. Lopez Obrador can actually seige the national government and with his buddy Ebrad as successor in City Hall this means municipal law enforcement will be held back and the Federales will have to use force. That will happen next week unless the lefty accepts his defeat and goes off to sulk with his famous predecessor Cuauhtemoc Cardenas (another PRD loser whose victory was allegedly "stolen").

Are you for Calderon? Can you tell us something about him.? I haven't read everything here, so sorry if you have already mentioned these things.

[rcne]

I care about this election. Mexico has a substantial impact upon our society, a large percentage of our population has Mexican origins (I'm counting our legal immigrants here and not including the illegal).

A stronger government in Mexico, one which will address its internal problems is a benefit to the Mexican people and a stabilizing force for our borders.

Those who believe its only about us inside our borders are missing the global dynamics which drive today's world.

[Sandy]

rcne. Would you please explain which candidate would work for a stronger more improved government in Mexico.

I for one, am very concerned that we are seeing our laws involving border enforcement dissolving into chaos. I am a Capitalist to the core but the government we have now in D.C. is abusing our free enterprise and has fallen apart on our immigration laws. Giving our borders over to any nation is illegal and immoral. What is so hard to understand the difference between legal and illegal?

[rcne]

Active Volcano

Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Mexico City Posts: 2,332 The leading candidate from the conservative PAN, Calderon (with 38.52% of the vote), promises development, job growth, foreign investment, close comercial and institutional ties with the US and general neoliberalism and is ahead by less than 3% with about 28% of the ballots tallied.

This candidate is my hope for Mexico..

Also, I didn't say give our border control to any other nation, but if both nations work toward a solution, and if job growth and stability occurs in Mexico - then the economic need to jump our present one-sided border enforcement, will lessen.

[rmnunez]

I support Calderon, but its really by default, I don't sense much of a vision in what he wants to do. The best we can expect is more of the same, though he does sound more conciliatory, has called for an inclusive effort, wants the loser's people to participate in his government.

There were 5 other candidates in the field; "Dr. Simi" (Victor Gonzalez Torres) the multimillionaire owner of a huge pharmacy franchise who also campaigned on a help the poor platform and anti-corruption who ran as an independent; then there was Patricia Mercado, who ran on a feminist platform with lots of agood ideas, good speaker but not enough traction; same could be said for Campa, good-looking, youngish, with a few good proposals, but both of these last two had weak party infrastructure and couldn't really move a large enough following. Then there were the three from the main parties; Madrazo from the archaic PRI which was displaced by the PAN's "cambio" which Fox ushered in and Lopez Obrador described before.

I disapproved of Madrazo and it was clear he wasn't going anywhere as the PRI has gradually lost importance since it lost complete control of everything. They've been bleeding leading members and base for 6 years and had a terrible internal struggle to select Madrazo which alienated important figures. Lopez Obrador had a single attraction; his interest and concern with the poor, something we needed in Mexico and has gained importance in politics largely thanks to him. Unfortunately he has a lot of negatives; his top confidants are among the most corrupt politicians seen in Mexico, brazen, greedy, inconsiderate, arrogant and abusive; his most outstanding accomplishment as mayor was a huge highway project to build a second level over the major city ring-road and in the process seized a lot of private property, inadequately compensated the owners and sometimes simply didn't pay anything for the expropriations.

[rmnunez]

Mexico's leftist party demanded Tuesday that electoral officials recount every vote cast in the country's closest presidential race ever, claiming the balloting was manipulated and renewing fears that its fiery candidate will launch massive street protests if he doesn't get his way. The campaign manager for Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador made the announcement in a statement read to reporters. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/04/D8ILAOMO0.html

Giving the finger?

[tman_ndsu08]

Quote by: Zeebadee supply a never-ending stream of cheap labor recruits to fill those "jobs that Americans won't do" (at least they won't for $5 an hour).

Do you even have a clue about how a business works?

You don't make money by hiring people above the market cost for that type of labor.

There is a global market for labor. Including Mexico.


If a Mexican wants to do a job for $5/hr, I'm going to hire him!

And you can't make me hire a guy for $9/hr!!!!!!!!!!

[rmnunez]

I think the idea is you have to pay the worker $9 no matter what, and if they improve enforcement and make the punishment for hiring undocumenteds stronger, then united statian businesses will only hire citizens and pay them a decent wage. It does contadict the market, but that's what socialism and command economies are all about.

[Zeebadee]

Quote by: tman_ndsu08 Do you even have a clue about how a business works? You don't make money by hiring people above the market cost for that type of labor. There is a global market for labor. Including Mexico. If a Mexican wants to do a job for $5/hr, I'm going to hire him! And you can't make me hire a guy for $9/hr!!!!!!!!!!

And if you don't pay a living wage in this country you're subsidizing the people that hire these illegals. Pay a guy $5 an hour and he can't afford health insurance. So he goes to the emergency room for every minor ailment and gets treated for free. He can't afford car insurance, so he drives without it. Get hit by someone like this and your insurance rates go up. He doesn't make enough to pay taxes, so the taxpayers pick up the tab for his kid's schooling. The taxpayers have to pick the costs of his food stamps, and whatever public assistance programs he can qualify for. Meanwhile, the employers are doing just great paying $5 an hour. Great way to run a business, not so great for the taxpayers.