Minor shifts reported in Mexico recount

by Laurence Iliff
MEXICO CITY
Electoral authorities began a partial recount Wednesday in the disputed July 2 presidential election as supporters of leftist candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador protested outside bank buildings, including U.S.-owned Banamex.

Ballots are being recounted in electoral districts around the nation under the watchful eye of Federal Electoral Tribunal judges and party observers. Media reports said that in early counting there were minor shifts in the vote tally, which has López Obrador trailing by 244,000 votes.

Official numbers will not be disclosed until the recount is completed, by Sunday at the latest.

López Obrador, a self-styled champion of the poor, has said fraud and mathematical errors warrant a complete recount of the 133,000 polling stations. But the tribunal ruled Saturday that only about 12,000 had significant discrepancies. That represents about 9 percent of voting stations.

Ricardo Monreal, a top aide to López Obrador, said Wednesday the early recount was unearthing serious problems in the July 2 balloting.

"There is no perfect crime, and there are fingerprints everywhere of fraud," said Monreal, the former governor of Zacatecas for the Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD.

But German Martinez, a spokesman for candidate Felipe Calderon of the ruling National Action Party, or PAN, said minor math errors would not change the outcome.

As part of daily protests that have strangled traffic in the capital and damaged tourism, demonstrators circled three downtown bank buildings Wednesday, impeding many workers and clients from entering. One of the affected banks was Banamex, a subsidiary of New York-based Citigroup.

The protesters demanded a vote-by-vote recount of all 41 million ballots.

Some clients were livid, as were motorists whose commute times have doubled because of the protest camp down the middle of the city.

"It's terrible because it seems to be more of a whim by this man (López Obrador) to get his way rather than something that helps the people," said Fernando Monrroy, 29, who was waiting to carry out bank transactions for his employer.

PRD spokesman Gerardo Fernandez, who took part in the seizure of tollbooths on the outskirts of Mexico City on Tuesday, said the protests would grow daily and include some "surprising" measures.