Mexico's Disputed Election Enters Dangerous Phase as Tribunal Rejects Full Vote Recount

Interview with John Ross, journalist and author, conducted by Scott Harris

More than six weeks after Mexico's disputed July 2nd presidential election, thousands of protesters continued to occupy the streets of Mexico City, demanding a full recount of each of the 41 million votes cast. The Federal Election Institute had unofficially declared Filipe Calderon, candidate of the conservative National Action Party the winner with a slim 243,000 vote-margin. Proclaiming the election tainted by fraud, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, candidate of the center-left Party of Democratic Revolution rallied his mostly poor supporters in giant protests in Mexico City's Zocalo or central square, to demand a "vote by vote recount."

But, after hearing evidence of ballot tampering and other irregularities from Lopez Obrador's camp, Mexico's seven-judge Federal Election Tribunal issued a decision rejecting a full recount but ordered a new tally of 12,000 precincts, just under 10 percent of all votes cast. The recount was completed Aug. 13, the results of which must be publicly released by Aug. 31. A president must be declared by Sept. 6 or the election has to be annulled.

Frustrated with the process, Lopez Obrador and tens of thousands of his supporters encamped in tent cities on major boulevards around the capital have engaged in non-violent civil disobedience including blocking entrances to government offices, U.S.-owned banks, and taken over toll booths. A scuffle between police and Lopez Obrador's supporters in front of Mexico's Congress on Aug. 14 devolved into a melee of stone-throwing and the firing of tear gas. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with journalist and author John Ross, who has covered Mexico for several decades. Reached in Mexico City, Ross reports on the rising tensions in this still unresolved presidential election.

Read Ross's articles online at www.counterpunch.org. Ross' forthcoming book to be published in October is titled, "Zapatistas: Making Another World Possible."

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