Mexican Leftists Vow More Protests
The Mexican leftists who have continued to protest and demand a full recount have admitted that they have no hope of forcing a recount and no hope of grabbing the presidency.
So they will simply continue protesting anyway.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's leftist opposition party has given up hope of the electoral court handing it a victory in a disputed presidential vote and plans to step up protests to make life tough for the country's next leader.
After weeks of legal battles, street marches and rain-sodden blockades that have brought the center of Mexico City to a standstill, the left-wing party whose candidate narrowly lost July 2 elections said it was prepared for the worst.
The Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, says the election was stolen from their candidate and wants every vote recounted, but expects Mexico's top electoral court to confirm conservative Felipe Calderon's slim victory.
"We are not naive," party spokesman Gerardo Fernandez said on Thursday. "The court is preparing the conditions to impose the candidate of the right."
Former Mexico City mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador almost led the party to its first presidential election win, and he says he only lost because votes were tampered with at tens of thousands of polling stations.
Forget the fact that EU observers did not see any evidence - at all - that there were irregularities. Forget the fact that the partial recount appears not to have revealed widespread problems. Forget that Mexican law does not allow for a recount just because AMLO demands one. Forget the fact that the PRD admits it has no hope of winning now. Just keep agitating:
Fernandez said the protesters, who have sporadically shut down government buildings, foreign-owned banks and the stock exchange, would take tougher, but non-violent, action if Calderon was named president.
"We'll take it further," he said, adding possible protests could include trying to stop Calderon's swearing in ceremony.
Calderon is favored by most businessmen for his free-market policies. He says the election was fair.
The PRD says it will do everything it can to stop President Vicente Fox, who is from Calderon's National Action Party, from giving his annual state of the nation address to Congress on Sept 1.
In 1994, Lopez Obrador blocked oil wells and organized a mass non-payment of electricity bills to protest an election that was likely stolen from him in his home state of Tabasco.
More than a decade later, thousands of Tabasquenos still don't pay energy bills.
Other possible actions include closing highways and border crossings to the United States, across which millions of dollars of freight is trucked every day.
Destroy the Mexican economy even though there is no real reason to any longer. There's someone with the best interests of the country in mind. Someone really should look into who is financing this little clambake.
World news | Gaius Saturday, 19 August , 2006
By syn, Saturday, 19 August , 2006 @ 10:07 am
Right out of America’s own National Socialist mob mentality playbook exhibited during Gore’s 2000 defeat.
When is the Democrat Party going recognize that it is no longer represenitive of Liberalism?
By Black Jack, Saturday, 19 August , 2006 @ 1:48 pm
“When is the Democrat Party going recognize that it is no longer represenitive of Liberalism?”
syn, that’s next on the list, right after Dems announce their opposition to anything which might remotely be considered progress.