Mexico leftist [Obrador]claims election recount proves fraud

Moderators: Elvis, DrVolin, Jeff

Re: Recent Updates

Postby StarmanSkye » Sun Aug 20, 2006 9:57 pm

<br><br>AP and Reuters Updates on Mexican Election Fraud Via NY Transfer News Collective -- as usual, they (AP and Reuters, ie. MSM) blithely overlook the significance of the substantial evidence of PRI vote-stuffing and opposition-party vote-theft discovered in the court-ordered 9-percent Precincts vote-count -- which SHOULD render Calderon's thin lead null-and-void, reversing the election results.<br><br>Fer sure, Mexico's citizens aren't going to let this fraud become a done-deal without raising a little hell.<br><br>Starman<br>******<br>AP via Yahoo - Aug 20, 2006 <br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060820/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_elections_4">news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060...lections_4</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <br><br><br>Election battle engulfs Chiapas, Mexico <br><br><br>By JULIE WATSON <br>Associated Press Writer <br><br><br>TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico - A tight governor's race Sunday in Mexico's poorest state has become the latest political battleground for the country's leftist party, which is disputing the results of last month's presidential election. <br><br>The governor's race in the southwestern state of Chiapas has been a fierce fight, with both sides hurling allegations of manipulation, vote-buying and dirty campaigning. Many feared that a loss by the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, could spark confrontations in Chiapas, the site of bloody political clashes in the past. <br><br>Polls have shown PRD candidate Juan Sabines, 38, running neck-and-neck with Jose Antonio Aguilar Bodegas, 56, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. <br><br>Victoria Anta Carrillo, 64, one of first voters to arrive Sunday, planned to attend a service later to pray that voting takes place without violence. <br><br>"Chiapas is a point of influence for other states, and for that reason we must be more aware of who we vote for, and we have to pray that everything turns out well," she said. <br><br>Mexico's capital and the southern city of Oaxaca have been under siege by political protests for more than a month. The PRD's presidential candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has called for around-the-clock protest camps to try to overturn the slight advantage Felipe Calderon of the National <br>Action Party has in the July 2 presidential vote, citing election fraud. <br><br>The Federal Electoral Court has until Sept. 6 to announce a president-elect or annul the election. <br><br>In a surprise move, President Vicente Fox's National Action Party, or PAN, withdrew its candidate in Chiapas and threw its support behind Aguilar. It was the first time National Action has formed an alliance with the PRI since Fox ended the PRI's 71-year hold on the presidency in 2000. <br><br>Some, though, had little faith in either candidate. <br><br>"Neither one is going to make a difference in my life," said Pascuala Lopez, a Tzotzil Indian woman selling grilled corn on the cob in San Cristobal de Las Casas. <br><br>Sabines, who cast his ballot as chickens crowed at a nearby daycare center in the state capital of Tuxtla Gutierrez, said his victory would help stabilize the country. <br><br>"This election will be peaceful, we hope, and is going to contribute to the governability of the country," Sabines said. <br><br>But others cited problems. Miguel Ballinas, a PAN spokesman in Chiapas, said a polling place in the Indian town of Rincon Chamula only had been open for five minutes Sunday when local authorities announced that all had voted. <br><br>Indian communities often make decisions -- including who should be elected -- by consensus, but most villages still have people cast individual ballots. <br><br>Ballinas said three PAN observers were being held there by local authorities and were not allowed to see whether the community had stuffed the ballot boxes before shutting down the voting place. He said the party planned to file a complaint. <br><br>"Everyone there votes for the PRD; that has always been the case," he said. "Someone is benefiting from that poll." <br><br>On Saturday, police said they had arrested four men linked to an alleged vote-buying scheme in Chiapas. Authorities said the suspects were caught trying to give away 36 tons of construction material to Hurricane Stan victims who promised to support Sabines. <br><br>Aurora Guillen, a PRD spokeswoman, said the party had no ties to the suspects and denied it was involved in vote buying. She charged that the PRI was behind the accusations. <br><br>Copyright ) 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. <br><br><br> *** <br><br>Reuters via Yahoo - Aug 20, 2006 <br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060820/wl_nm/mexico_election_dc_1">news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060...ction_dc_1</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <br><br>Chiapas vote adds to Mexican political crisis <br><br>By Mica Rosenberg <br><br><br>NAVENCHAUC, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexico's poor, largely Maya Indian state of Chiapas voted on Sunday in a tense governor's race that could add volatility to a national political crisis following a disputed presidential election. <br><br>The result is expected to be tight, raising fears of further political unrest and possible violence in Chiapas, where Zapatista rebels took up arms in 1994. <br><br>Mexico is already reeling from the July 2 presidential vote, which has led to weeks of protests and cries of fraud from supporters of leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who narrowly lost to conservative ruling party rival Felipe Calderon. <br><br>On Sunday, early morning mist draped the highland Chiapas village of Navenchauc where dozens of Tzotzil Indians dressed in traditional woven wool clothes crowded round officials opening a polling station. <br><br>"There could be conflicts," said Cruz Jimenez, 27, selling popcorn to voters. "Either because there is no clear winner or because they don't like the result." <br><br>Lopez Obrador's Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, governs Chiapas but Calderon's party threw its support behind a rival candidate at the end of the campaign to try to topple the PRD here. <br><br>The battle is now between the PRD's Jaime Sabines and Jose Antonio Aguilar Bodegas of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ran Mexico for seven decades before it was toppled in 2000. <br><br>FRAUD CLAIMS <br><br>Calderon's National Action Party, or the PAN, and the PRI accuse Chiapas' outgoing governor of the irregular use of public funds in this campaign. <br><br>In the fiercely traditional Tzotzil town of San Juan Chamula, an angry crowd delayed the start of voting and surrounded local PAN representatives, arguing ballot papers were tampered with. They later allowed the vote to go ahead. <br><br>Elsewhere, morning voting was peaceful, election officials said. <br><br>Mexico's top electoral court is examining Lopez Obrador's allegations that thousands of ballot boxes were tampered with during the presidential election, although it is expected to confirm Calderon's victory and declare him president-elect. <br><br>Lopez Obrador sees Chiapas as a chance to strengthen his position in the wake of the July 2 vote, and he traveled to the state last week to drum up support for his party's candidate. <br><br>A defeat in Chiapas would be a blow to his bid to build a national protest movement trying to stop Calderon taking office. <br><br>He says the unprecedented alliance between the PAN and the PRI here is evidence of a conspiracy against him. <br><br>Free market champion Calderon visited several PRI governors on a visit to southern Mexico last week. He is trying to win PRI support for economic reforms he hopes to push through a divided Congress once he takes power in December. <br><br>A sizable chunk of Chiapas' eligible voters belong to the Zapatista leftist rebel force that burst from the state's jungles in 1994 in a brief but bloody uprising. <br><br>The Zapatistas now live in self governed villages and do not vote in elections. <br><br>Copyright ) 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. <br><br> <p></p><i></i>
StarmanSkye
 
Posts: 2670
Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2005 11:32 pm
Location: State of Jefferson
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: Recent Updates

Postby greencrow0 » Sun Aug 20, 2006 11:22 pm

thanks for this starman<br><br>It appears that the frontlines of the democratic nationalist resistance is centered, for the moment at least, in Mexico.<br><br>gc <p></p><i></i>
greencrow0
 
Posts: 1481
Joined: Mon Jul 11, 2005 5:42 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Previous

Return to Latin America

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests