Mexico's leftist presidential candidate calls for protest camps outside electoral offices

MEXICO CITY
Mexico's leftist presidential candidate called on supporters Friday to set up protest camps outside the nation's 300 electoral offices to prevent alleged tampering of ballots in the July 2 election.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador pledged to stop calling protests if there is a manual, ballot-by-ballot recount of the vote. He also said he would never recognize the results as legitimate if they confirm the apparent victory of conservative Felipe Calderon.

“I am not going to recognize these elections as clean,” Lopez Obrador said.

An official vote tally gave Calderon a 244,000-vote advantage. But the Federal Electoral Tribunal must decide on a slew of appeals by Aug. 31 and declare a president-elect by Sept. 6 – a decision that cannot be appealed.

In a nearly 900-page legal challenge, Lopez Obrador claims widespread vote fraud and illicit government and corporate support for Calderon.

He objected to electoral officials opening ballot boxes, arguing officials are trying to fix the vote. Electoral authorities say they are simply extracting documents that political parties have requested to support legal challenges.

Lopez Obrador called on his supporters to “set up camp outside the 300 district council offices ... peacefully, and the camps should have video cameras.”

In an interview with the national Azteca television network Friday, Calderon urged viewers “that we not respond to provocations, that we trust our authorities, that we respect our laws and get to work for a Mexico that lives in peace.”

Calderon has rejected Lopez Obrador's demand for a manual recount of all 41 million votes, but said “if the (electoral) tribunal should order a recount at some polling place, we would understand there was a legal basis for it.”

President Vicente Fox's spokesman, Ruben Aguilar, defended electoral authorities, claiming polls show that the majority of Mexicans trust them.

Aguilar said, however, that “it is necessary to continue polishing and improving our electoral system to make it even better.”

Fox, during an event later in the day, remarked that Mexico's government institutions – one of which is the Federal Electoral Institute – have been “key for overcoming difficulties in the past, key to overcoming difficulties in the future and will always be an undeniable ingredient for achieving the goals to come.”

“Today, more than ever, we have the responsibility to take care of these institutions, to nourish, strengthen and respect them,” Fox said.

Lopez Obrador, who often has used street protests to get his way, was calling a massive rally Sunday in Mexico City's main plaza. Lopez Obrador aide Jesus Ortega said more than 70,000 people had begun their journey to the capital. “We hope Sunday's march will be historic,” he said. Supporters also gathered at the Federal Electoral Tribunal on Friday to demand a recount.

Mexican stocks dropped for the fifth day in a row Friday, giving up nearly all the gains made since the July 2 vote. The peso initially rallied on news of Calderon's apparent victory, but the currency has stalled amid the confusion about who won.