Obrador supporters take to Mexico streets

[leftchick]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060708/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_elections

MEXICO CITY - Thousands of defiant supporters of leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took to the streets Saturday in a bid to overturn his narrow election defeat, launching protests that threatened to widen Mexico's regional and class divisions.

Lopez Obrador called for protests across Mexico, saying last Sunday's elections were more fraudulent than those held during 71 years of one-party rule. European Union election observers have said they had found no major irregularities.

Most of Lopez Obrador's supporters come from poor southern states while conservative Felipe Calderon's strength is in Mexico's industrialized north.

Election officials say Calderon beat Lopez Obrador by less than 244,000 votes out of a total of 41 million ballots — or a margin of about 0.6 percent.

"We are never going to recognize this man (Calderon)," said Apolinario Fernandez, 37, a teacher from Lopez Obrador's home state of Tabasco in the southeast. "If he wants, let him govern in the north for the rich, but not in the south."



CNNI Reporting over 100,000 supporters!



Thousands of supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador attend a rally to protest against the result of last weekend's election in Mexico City's Zocalo square July 8, 2006. REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar (MEXICO)

[Blue_In_AK]

1. "We are never going to recognize this man..."

I can relate.

[IndyOp]

2. May God Be With Them! (n/t)

[Missy M]

3. Many people in this country know exactly how the...

Obrador supporters feel. I hope they are more successful than we were in proving fraud.

[lovuian]

4. The People want their country!!!

People taken to the streets!!!

[Monkeyman]

5. JUST LIKE WE DID IN THE 60s

[Ghost Dog]

36. Freedom's just another word for nothin left to lose,

"Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose,
And nothin' ain't worth nothin' but it's free..."

- Kris Kristofferson › Me & Bobby McGee (cf. Janis Joplin > Pearl)

[eleny]

6. Kicked and Recommended!

[Benhurst]

7. Recommended NT

[rzemanfl]

8. This is what Gore should have done in 2000 and Kerry in 2004:

"Aguilar predicted that Lopez Obrador would never recognize Calderon's narrow electoral victory.

'He will never concede defeat,' Aguilar said. 'Once the election results are certified, he will open a permanent campaign of criticizing the government.'"

[Kajsa]

12. Yes! They may scratch the surface

of the fraud and corruption that has plagued
Mexico for a long time!

We could learn a lot from them.

Viva Obrador ! :applause:

[arcos]

9. Some Flickr photos of people on their way to the Zócalo...

More in http://www.flickr.com/photos/joseluisl/

[Joanne98]

11. CNN has more photos and a video......

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/07/08/mexico.elex.ap/index.html

[marjorieann]

27. Fantastico

thank you for those.

[Joanne98]

10. Obrador accuses the FEI of COMPUTER FRAUD......YESSSSS

Lopez Obrador vows to challenge Mexico's presidential results
By Kevin G. Hall
McClatchy Newspapers

MEXICO CITY - In a scene eerily reminiscent of the U.S. elections in 2000, Mexican presidential hopeful Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Saturday that he was defrauded by a rigged computer count and vowed a legal challenge before a special electoral court and Mexico's highest civil court.


In a hastily called news conference with foreign correspondents on Saturday morning, six days Mexican's cast their vote, Lopez Obrador, of the left-leaning Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) accused the Federal Electoral Institute of conspiring with the government to arrange his narrow defeat by a margin of 0.58 percent.


"They manipulated the electronic computer system," he said. The electoral body, known by its Spanish initials IFE, "introduced a computer model with a determined factor, where they beforehand knew how it would behave the entire day."


Specifically, Lopez Obrador believes the IFE, which has trained electoral authorities around the world and which polls show is held in high regard by Mexicans, conspired to shave points from his count and gave them to his opponent. Elections experts said conservative Felipe Calderon's tight margin of victory was akin to a difference of about two ballots per voting booth.


"This electoral organ folded completely before the government and its (ruling) party," said Lopez Obrador.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/14996317.htm

[leftchick]

13. Imagine for a moment

If John Kerry had done that. The whole ball of rotten election fraud would have come out so much sooner. :(

[Joanne98]

14. You're going to make me cry.........

[Vidar]

15. He "called for protests across Mexico." K&R

[Judi Lynn]

16. Th anks for the thread.Should be more after Obrador has spoken tonight. nt

[leftchick]

17. AP: 100,000 in Mexico protest Obrador loss

Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) stops to kiss the hand of an elderly supporter during a rally in the historic Zocalo plaza in Mexico City, Mexico, Saturday, July 8, 2006. Obrador called his supporters onto the streets Saturday to protest his rival's narrow victory in a vote he said was more fraudulent than those held during 71 years of one-party rule. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/mexico_elections

MEXICO CITY - More than 100,000 defiant supporters of leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador massed Saturday in a bid to overturn his narrow election defeat with protests that threatened to widen Mexico's regional and class divisions.

Lopez Obrador told the huge crowd he would present allegations of fraud to the nation's electoral court Sunday and request that every one of more than 41 million votes be recounted, to expose what he called wrongdoing that cost him the election.

"We are going to ask that they clean up the elections. We are going to ask that they count all the votes — vote-by-vote, poll-by-poll," Lopez Obrador said to wide applause.

[NJCher]

18. Saw the crowds on TV

This just shows how important government is to people.

And it boggles my mind, absolutely boggles my mind, that the idiots here are so brainwashed they can't figure out they are being fleeced, systematically and methodically.




Cher

[leftchick]

21. I hear ya!

It boggles my mind too. :(

[bklyncowgirl]

19. Good for the Mexicans

They have no illusions about their government. To Americans, who see our country as a paragon of democracy, election fraud is something that happens in other countries--except for certain well know urban centers like Chicago & New York, of course.

We can and should take a lesson from them.

[Melissa G]

20. How different the world might be now had US Dem's done that in 2000..

Thousands of Americans and Iraqis might still be alive.

We might still have New Orleans and thousands might not have died as shrub ate cake.

America might still have some positive regard in the world


We might not have squandered all our surplus income to Halliburton et al and impoverished our grandchildren to pay for the theft.

The list is so long of what might have happened if we had taken to the streets to protest that original Florida theft or at least the second Ohio one.

May we all learn from Mexico!

[Smarmie Doofus]

22. To what degree is this true:

>>>European Union election observers have said they had found no major irregularities.>>>

[Zhade]

24. That's my question as well.

How can "no major irregularities" be found with trashed ballots and 2 million 'missing' votes, only 2.5 million of which are later 'found'?

I believe the evidence that shows this was stolen. What's up with this EU thing?

[Smarmie Doofus]

25. It reads like a throw-away line, ie. meaningless in....

the context of the story but perhaps included by AP to give the coverage just that slight, subtle twist to the right.

I'm wondering who these EU monitors are what exactly they've said. And were there any other international election monitors on the scene? What have *they* said?

[Judi Lynn]

30. Reminds one directly of a W.C. Fields film, "The Bank Dick"

He didn't want the bank examiner to be able to complete his audit, so he took him to the Black Pussycat Lounge and got him wildly drunk, and at some point stepped on his glasses before allowing him to to back to the bank.



If we have corruptible election campaign people here, it's not too hard to imagine corruptible officials working all along the line everywhere, unfortunately. It also can't be that hard to fool someone you really want to deceive.

It's hard to overlook discarded ballots in the nearest trash dump.

[PATRICK]

34. The same as some internet voting "oversight"

groups. The old observer concerns are not the same as today's> that list of priorities is at least honest but needs drastic revision. They concentrate because they must on what is happening on the ground that day. The damage might have been done with roll purges or software gimmicks. They expect to see in pervasive fraud, large scale or targeted intimidation, ballot box tampering or other clear traditional signs. In the phony internet observations if the vote is working smoothly and the OLD signs don't seem to be bothering the media, everything is not only peachy but an improvement.

But then we usually only get one snip in the brief press release before the contest is crammed down the memory hole with a speed so avidly desirable to institutions as to to be transparently suspicious.

The only thing in Calderon's favor, being close and ahead in certain reputable polls(but what about exit polls?), makes a victory credible. Unfortunately in a close election, any fraud can spoil the election and that is the issue, nothing else, certainly not a cynical game of who can bully who into accepting spoiled results. He cheated. he blew it. New, fairer elections would be the compromise unless the recount itself showed Obrador the clear winner- not the opposite situation Calderon is claiming. What justification would a cheating loser have for demanding a new election then?

As with Gore/Bush the actual rational situation was the same and the media institutional view, including the split SCOTUS was diametrically opposed to the rational, just and legal, or even honorable solution.

An election is a majority choice, not a gaming contest. The only particularist issue is between a voter and his ballot. Getting a fair one and marking it properly and having it counted.

[Ghost Dog]

35. They were just watching 'behavior' at some polling stations (30%)?

- looking out for obvious irregularities at those points. They said they didn't see much - not enough to be significant, they've said, although at some places observers from _all_ parties were not present; there were few 'neutral' observers; at some places the actual ballot-marking (voting) was not private; and in some places the ballot-boxes 'casillas' only arrived at the time polling-stations opened,causing delays, queues, while they were being set up. But on the whole, the voting process across the country went smoothly.

They also report that the media in Mexico is free and diverse enough to have allowed healthy public debate during campaigning...

BUT, BIG BUT, as far as I can see the EU monitors did not look into the issue of electoral rolls (voting lists) to see whether people were being unjustly excluded; could not look into possible vote-buying and intimidation outside the polling process itself; and WERE NOT MONITORING THE ACTUAL COUNTING/REPORTING/COMPUTERISED PROCESSES.

The bottom line: they DO say that MAXIMUM TRANSPARENCY is the best way to go, and have now been reported as saying that a FULL MANUAL RECOUNT may be very desirable. This also seems to be the latest take now even in center-right-leaning Spanish press I've seen today (a change on what they were saying at first - looks like they may be seeing potential big trouble a litle further down the road, otherwise).

You will find the official "EU Election Observation Mission to Mexico 2006" site (mostly only in Spanish) here: http://www.eueommexico.org/preliminary.html

Some 'neutral' EU political reporting/interpretation may emerge here: http://eupolitics.einnews.com/news/eu-election-missions

(Also, be aware that the chairman of the EU mission on the ground is a Spanish right-winger from Aznar's PP (People's Party)... This is the only party that refused to condemn Franco's long Spanish dictatorship in a recent European Parliament debate).

[Rageneau]

23. Had Gore been as courageous as Obrador, he'd president today.

Because Gore didn't call for this kind of response, the pugs overwhelmed the streets and the media and, since they already controlled the Florida legislature and Governorship and the USSC, it was easy for them to roll right over us milquetoast democrats. The Gore-Bush (and Kerry-Bush) elections will enter history disputed and remain that way forever. Had Bush really CARED about a fair count, he would have agreed to a full and fair one. Same with Calderon. If he REALLY thinks he won, then a recount presents no threat to him.

When they try to stop the honest totalling of all the votes -- no matter how many recounts that takes -- it's always because they know they lost.

[fordnut]

64. had Gore been this couragous as Obrador,he'd be president today

hey I agree I wish us democrates could march in the streets
demanding a recount for Gore.:thumbsup: :dem: 

[judaspriestess]

26. Fight for your rights Fight

"We are ready to do whatever is necessary," said Belasario Cruz, 32, a farmer from Tabasco. "We are tired of the rich having everything and the poor having nothing." :headbang:


Yes! Yes! Yes!........

Wow, if only we here in America would show up to protest like this. I am proud of Mexico for demanding change. Now I pray they get it. Mexico has been run by a corrupt government for way to long.

[marjorieann]

28. Apparently

there will be a march in Tijuana tomorrow - which is unbelievable because the North went PAN, and TJ belongs to money-launderer Hank Rohn.

Don't forget OUR March, google in theworldcan'twait, USA Nationwide March slated for October the 5th.

[struggle4progress]

29. Mexican protest draws 150,000

Losing candidate alleges fraud in presidential vote
Jul. 9, 2006. 01:00 AM

MEXICO CITY—An estimated 150,000 supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took to the streets last night in a bid to overturn his narrow defeat in an election he has denounced as fraudulent ...

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1152395411408&call_pageid=968332188854&col=968350060724

[struggle4progress]

31. Nearly 300,000 pack Mexico City plaza to protest the election results

Crowds rally for leftist
Nearly 300,000 pack Mexico City plaza to protest the election results

By DUDLEY ALTHAUS and MARION LLOYD
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Foreign Service

MEXICO CITY - At the behest of leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, nearly 300,000 people packed the Mexican capital's sprawling central plaza Saturday, demanding a recount of the July 2 election that official results show he barely lost.

"We're defending a just cause: the right of Mexicans to choose their leaders," Lopez Obrador told the cheering, chanting throng. "Democracy is indispensable to achieve a Mexico of justice and dignity."

"We're going to defend democracy."

Lopez Obrador called on supporters nationwide to begin marching on Mexico City on Wednesday and to gather for another mass rally in the central plaza, the Zocalo, in a week ... http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4033936.html

[Judi Lynn]

33. Had the New York Times or the Wa. Po. done the story, they would

have described it as being "in the thousands," no doubt!

What do you want to bet it was well over 300,000? At least it's a great step forward that we get this admission from the Houston Chronicle!

From the article:

For many in the plaza, trust in the electoral institute, built painstakingly in the past dozen years, has been shattered by this election's outcome.
(snip)

Looking forward to the next demonstration. Hope it's well attended, too.

Thanks for the article.

[Laotra]

38. In defence of NYT

I found out from Narconews that the NYT editorial somewhat surprisingly supported the full recount in Mexico.

[Judi Lynn]

39. Interesting. It's unexpected to see them supporting a populist position.

They most surely supported the elitist, <sub>Bush<[/sub>supported coup of Hugo Chavez, and continued their anti-Chavez slant following that event.

Any progress at all is good. Glad to know they came out on the right side here.</sub>

[oasis]

32. Viva Mexico.

:bounce:

[dbt]

37. Kick!

The Mexican people show us what a nation of sheep we are. They stand up.

:bounce:
dbt
Viva Mexico!

[Junkdrawer]

40. 100,000 protest after disputed Mexican vote (Election protests rage)

MEXICO CITY - Leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called on a huge crowd of supporters Saturday to keep peacefully protesting as he goes to court to challenge what he called his fraudulent electoral defeat.

The fiery former Mexico City mayor said he would present fraud allegations to Mexico’s electoral court on Sunday and formally request that all 41 million votes be recounted.

The ruling party’s Felipe Calderon can’t be declared president-elect until the electoral court weighs allegations of fraud or unfair campaign practices. The court has until Sept. 6 to declare a winner.

....

Election monitors from the European Union said they found no irregularities in the count. Calderon says the vote was clean and has taken congratulatory phone calls from President Bush and the leaders of Canada, Spain and Colombia, among others, despite Lopez Obrador’s plea for foreign governments to hold off on recognizing the result.

Lopez Obrador called for nationwide marches beginning Wednesday and converging on Mexico City for a July 16 rally.

....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13759417/

Well, if the corporate media's reporting of protest numbers is consistent, there must have been millions in the street!

[Greeby]

41. BBC link to pics and video

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5161862.stm

[Warren Stupidity]

42. If the Zocalo is packed it is way more than 100,000. nt.

[Laughing Mirror]

43. Hard to hide them, even Washington Post admits to 280,000

But even that inconvenient number is buried down in the fifth paragraph of the story.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/08/AR2006070801010.html

[lovuian]

53. Its going to millions soon if the rich don't back down

The Mexicans know its stolen... the world knows it stolen... They can't lock up all these people

if they don't give in soon there will be a revolution...

[Breeze54]

44. Here's more about Mexico's stolen? election

I put a question mark because it's, sort of, still an unknown.


http://www.narconews.com/Issue42/article1967.html

A Full Recount Would Show that López Obrador Won Mexico’s Presidency by More than One Million Votes
The Tip of the Iceberg of the Crimes Committed by Mexican Electoral Authorities Is the Fraudulent

Vote Count of 2006

By Al Giordano
Part II of a Special Series for The Narco News Bulletin

July 8, 2006

Commercial Media organizations are reporting that Felipe Calderòn won Sunday’s presidential election
by 0.58 percent of the vote and will govern Mexico for the next six years,
beginning on December 1.

It would not be the first time that the Commercial Media has been wrong.

Many of those reports have claimed that Wednesday’s first official count of precinct results in
Mexico –
130,000 pieces of paper that claim to represent the vote tallies – was a “recount.”

It would not be the first time that lazy “pack journalism” got a major international story wrong.

The truth: No recount occurred on Wednesday, or before, or since.
What occurred – we repeat – was only the first official count of precinct tallies.

A Narco News investigation has found that in the small sample of precincts –
less than one percent – where a recount was allowed, the shift in numbers away from Calderón was
so drastic that, if recounts of all the ballots followed the same trend, the official results
would invert and Andrés Manuel López Obrador would become the clear winner of the presidency
by more than one million votes:

The Million-Vote Fraud ....

..... more at link

[IndianaGreen]

45. More photos from La Jornada (PRD's newspaper)

Look at the size of the crowd at Mexico City's historical main square, and site of an ancient Aztec temple underneath it, the Zócalo:





"Vote by vote" shouts the crowd, according to La Jornada.

[fasttense]

46. Brave souls, maybe they will teach US citizens how to fight to have

your vote counted fairly.

[BrentWill4U]

47. Vote by vote and he...

Will still be over 200K behind. You know, sometimes you just loss election and the PAN is not like the GOP anyway.

[IndianaGreen]

52. Then let's count all the votes and see if you are right, or whether

you are the latest mouthpiece of rightwing propaganda in DU.

[BrentWill4U]

57. No, I am a Democrat..

I just understand that PAN is A LOT different then the GOP..

[BrentWill4U]

58. I would also like to point out..

That I really don’t understand what is in it for Calderón. Is he does it, is Lopez going to accept the results or will he say that they cheated in that count also?

[go west young man]

48. Look at that beautiful passionate crowd!

It's obvious who is the real hero of the Mexican people. If Calderon does manage to steal it he will never have the support of the people.

[BrentWill4U]

50. Well besides...

The 65 percent of Mexicans that voted for someone else.

[IndianaGreen]

54. A clear majority of Mexicans voted against the PAN candidate

I can play the same game you do.

[BrentWill4U]

56. Yes..

And even MORE voted against Hugo II.

[Bridget Burke]

59. Yes, PAN did try to paint Lopez Obrador as "Hugo II"....

A Chronicle columnist compared the propaganda effort to "swiftboating."

Not much like the GOP?

[Rainscents]

49. K & R!!!

:kick: Kudo to Mexico!!!

[Runcible Spoon]

51. standing in unity with Mexico's oppressed....

K&R
:patriot: :applause:

[mvd]

55. Wish that happened here

Especially after the 2000 coup.

[RCinBrooklyn]

60. I do hope this guy is relentless and gains more momentum...

[WhiteTara]

61. too bad we can't get our demonstratioins

to have soooo many people.

[marjorieann]

62. Just a quick update - Obrador calls for a HUGE march this week

Obrador has called for a nation wide march, starting Wednesday the 12th, culminating at the nation's capital, Mexico City on Sunday the 16th.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060717/ross2

[EFerrari]

63. Good! Kick.

:kick: