The Night Mexico Did Not Sleep

Dear Mexico First Alert Reader,

With all votes now counted, Felipe Calderón of the ruling National Action Party (PAN) has emerged as the front-runner in the Mexico presidential election--but he has not yet been officially declared the President-elect.

Word of the final vote tally echoed across Mexico late yesterday after a dramatic all-night count that the daily El Universal newspaper in Mexico City dubbed "The Night Mexico Did Not Sleep."

The election, which took place last Sunday, July 2, was too close to call until the vote count was finalized. The final tally shows Calderón eking out the victory over former Mexico City mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador by half a percentage point, or about 200,000 votes. The final count shows Calderón with 35.88 percent and López Obrador with 35.31.

López Obrador, candidate for the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), will reportedly seek to have the election results declared invalid. He claims that some polling stations counted more ballots than they had registered voters, and that party monitors were missing at thousands of locations.

The Federal Electoral Institute will submit the final vote count to the Electoral Tribunal for approval on Sunday, usually a pro-forma process. If Calderón gets the nod as President-elect--which looks likely--Lopez Obrador has promised to contest that decision by asking the electoral court to order a vote-by-vote recount. Independent international election observers say his case may be difficult to make as the election was cleaner than any in Mexico's history.

This was a hotly contested election, and it is probable that the controversy surrounding the vote will continue for some time. López Obrador has called on his supporters to rally in the Mexico City tomorrow in a show of strength. Some believe that he will use this public demonstration to put pressure on the court to grant his request, as he has a history of using marches to protest what he has considered fraudulent elections that did not go his way. Last year, he also used large demonstrations to discourage an attempt to knock him off the presidential ballot altogether.

López Obrador ran as "a man of the people," and had large support among Mexico's large working class.

Many Mexicans worried that López Obrador would send Mexico down the path of other Latin American countries like Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez's socialist policies have driven away foreign investment. The Harvard-educated Calderón capitalized on those fears in a series of radio and television ads that compared López Obrador to Chavez. Calderón ran on a platform of "staying the course," promising to maintain Mexico's stable, growing economy through free-trade policies.

A winner of the presidential race in Mexico must be declared by September 6.

Best Regards,

Marzena Romanowicz
International Living / Mexico

P.S. Our guide to living in Mexico, Mexico: The Owner's Manual, offers a chapter on the politics of Mexico, which has the largest economy in Latin America and is the U.S.' third-largest trading partner. The 200+-page manual also offers information for expats about health care, insurance, visas, and more--including a complete ratings guide to help you determine where in Mexico the best place is for you. Order Mexico: The Owner's Manual here.