Shades of Election 2000 in Mexico
Sunday night in the threads I remarked how I could see the Mexican election turning into a Florida 2000 type situation, though it didn’t seem likely come morning. It has, unfortunately, headed down that exact path in the last 48 hours. I called the race for Calderon early Monday morning when he was ahead by about a 1/2 million votes, which is about where things ended up after the preliminary count was completed.
Leftiest candidateLopez Obrador true to his promises started raising hell by Monday after noon demanding a recount. By Tuesday the IEF had corrected some reporting tally mistakes and Calderon’s lead had shrunk to 1/2 a percent. Obrador then insisted the 2 million or so votes that were set aside for various reasons (markings, hanging chads.. you know the drill) need to be counted. Some of the language used has been eerily similar to that of the Gore camp, it’s giving me shivers. The non selective recount has been underway since early Wednesday and the lead has shifted back and forth with Obrador up 1/2 a point when 80% had been recounted, but with 98% counted Calderon is now in the lead by only about ten thousand votes. 35.62$ to 35.54% Sound familiar?
With such a small margin either way you can expect both candidates to continue to contest the matter with the citizens, IEF, and the final arbiter the Federal Electoral Tribunal. This could get messy, and I hope the people of Mexico can act more responsibly then some here in the United States no matter what the outcome.
Subscribe to blog feed.