As of this moment Felipe Calderon has a 240,000 vote lead over Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador from the 41 Million ballots cast for the Presidency of Mexico. Calderon believes free trade and market economies will improve the lives of Mexican citizens. Obrador offers socialist promises to redistribute wealth to the poor. The extreme closeness of tally, however, means the eventual winner will be declared by the court.
Mexican courts decide if Calderon winner: Under Mexico's complex election laws, Calderon won't have won until the Federal Electoral Tribunal certifies the count. … The magistrates then add up the votes that have survived challenges and declare a winner by Sept. 6, a decision that can't be appealed.For the next two months the left will have their opportunity to prove their loss is a result of election fraud. Predictably, leftist British author Greg Palast announces election theft even before the votes are completely counted.
Grand theft Mexico: As in Florida in 2000, and as in Ohio in 2004, the exit polls show the voters voted for the progressive candidate. The race is "officially" too close to call. But they will call it - after they steal it. Reuters reports that, as of 8pm eastern time, as voting concluded in Mexico, exit polls showed Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the "leftwing" party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) leading in exit polls over Felipe Calderón of the ruling conservative National Action party (PAN).Oops! Even fellow progressive Joshua Holland sees the flaw with this claim.
Alternet: I asked him to retract his Guardian post, "Grand Theft Mexico," which hangs entirely on a claim that's simply false. … Reuters never reported that López Obrador was ahead in the exit polls. … López Obrador -- a candidate -- claimed that his own exit poll -- one private exit poll with no known methodology, no precise results, no known margin-of-error, no known sample size and no polling director we can call up to find out that stuff (campaigns keep internal polling data close to the chest) -- showed he was in the lead.Still there is plenty of time to concoct a conspiracy theory filled with isolated facts, anecdotal stories and injustice both real and imagined. Personally, I like outrage over the lack of illegal immigrant voting.
Mexico's Surreal Elections: Undocumented workers were denied absentee ballot applications at consulates and embassies and more than a million eligible voters were barred from casting a ballot because their voter registration cards were not up to date and the IFE refused to update them outside of Mexico. Untold numbers of undocumented workers who could not risk returning to Mexico for a minimum 25 days to renew their credential were denied the franchise the IFE was sworn to defend. The PRD insists that the majority of undocumented Mexicans in the U.S. would have cast a ballot for Lopez Obrador.Yep, Mexico’s Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) decided if you are living abroad illegally and won't bother to return home to update your registration, then to bad. Maybe they can vote in Wisconsin elections because we don’t check ID’s here.
