Calderón Certified as Next Mexican President

Mexico’s Federal Electoral Tribunal ruled yesterday that Felipe Calderón has, indeed, won the Mexican presidential election held in July. The tribunal is the court of final appeal, and the matter is closed. That being the case, someone needs to tell Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the man who officially lost by a fraction of a percentage point. He’s planning to hold a convention of supporters week after next and may set up a parallel administration.

For the last two months, Mexico has been on edge as the legal wrangling over its tight election went on. For the past two months also, Mr. Obrador and his supporters have occupied the main square in Mexico City, El Zócalo. They don’t seem to be in any hurry to leave, and the situation is starting to resemble Tiananmen Square in Beijing all those years ago.

Out of 41.6 million votes cast, the official result now has Mr. Calderón winning by 233,831. Judge Alfonsina Berta Navarro Hidalgo acknowledged that the court had found problems with the election, but they weren’t sufficient to annul the result. “There are no perfect elections,” she said. And she is right. However, Manuel Camacho told The Associated Press that the ruling “does not take into account what is actually happening in the country.”

What is happening in the country is very troubling. So long as there was a next legal step in dealing with the dispute, there was a reason for the supporters of Mr. Obrador to hold back. There is now no legal action to stop Mr. Calderón from taking the oath of office in December. Yet there is a difference between legal and political steps that can be taken, and if Mr. Obrador decides to make Mexico ungovernable, he may well be able to do so.

A “People Power” revolt in Mexico is not far-fetched; Mexico has a populist streak in its political history. However, even if the election were stolen, it is clear that significant numbers of Mexicans prefer Mr. Calderón to Mr. Obrador. People Power won’t work if half the people work against it. Instead, the result could be civil strife. Mr. Camacho also told the AP, “We have the responsibility to conduct ourselves peacefully.” Upon that depends the future of Mexican democracy.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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