Update on Mexican Elections from Mexico

[nadinbrzezinski]

Due to a death in the family we had to fly to Mexico City, so I have had the chance to read the
Mexican Press and listen to the news. So here are some observations.

1.- It ain´t over until the TRIFE sings... and this will not happen until September

2.- The editorial page has that strange sense of deja vu... like I am readying the American press in 2000... all the way to the language used.

3.- Lopez Obrador already stated he will not accept the final results, if he does not win... this does not bode well.

4.- The Zapatistas have issued a statement basically calling for a NEW Mexican Revolution.

5.- Just like the states some low level violence has started. This is from my brother... he saw three individuals come out of their car, with baseball bats and beat the tar feathers out of another vehicle with a PAN sticker... oh and the cops did nothing. Again this does not bode well.

6.- From polls the population is divided whether this was stolen or not.

[BrotherBuzz]

1. Obrador will accept the final results if there is a recount, no?

Or has his position changed? :shrug:

[ladjf]

2. The last I heard was that if the recounts were done in 46,000

polling places, he would accept the count.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Not according to today´s paper

he will refuse to... also in the editorials, and I had forgotten it... if the elections are found to be at fault the Congress will have to appoint an interim President for two years, and new elections will have to be held... that is one extreme of this.

[ladjf]

4. Obrador is a smart guy. He'll probably do what's best to have

the current regime overthrown in one way or the other. It's real important for the U.S. how the election works out. Venezuela has already shown that the elitist business faction can be taken out. If Mexico could do the same, it would be a blue print for Americans. Right now, our government speaks for about 25% of the people. That's not democracy.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. And you have no idea just how bad Obrador will

be... look many people are looking at this from the outside. I have had the chance to speak to many Mexicans ranging from the well to do, to the not so well to do.

Here are some things that are known.

He DID KILL his brother, and was never prosecuted. Rumor has it he also murdered his wife and mother.

He DID bankrupt the DF

He has quite the authoritarian personality.

This was truly an election where none of the above would have been more proper.

He is not a saint just becuase he is center left, and moderate to boot. The only reason he ran with the PRD was... the PRI got tired of his cute manouvers.

[ladjf]

7. I am no authority on Mexican affairs. My opinions are simply

based on whatever bits and pieces of news available. Your accusations about Obrador may or may not be true. My sense is that they aren't. The fact that you have spoken to some Mexicans about him is not a strong argument.

I think that rich elite business people are running Mexico for their own benefit, just as is the case in the U.S. I would like to see an end to that.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. These are not accusations

these are facts.. printed in the Mexican Media... all across the board. THis is not a whisper campaign by the right...

He WAS a member of the PRI.

He did bankrupt the equivalent of DC when he was mayor

He did kill his brother and he was never prosecuted for it... it HELPS to have connections, especially when it happened. The other two are rumors.

he HAS exhibited authoritarian personality characteristics repeatedly

he is NOT a lefty by mexican standards... but a moderate, center left, best case... granted this is way to the left of the US, but hey the US anybody left of Mussolini is a lefty.

The country is throughly divided. It also feels very tense.

And in case you wonder I grew in Mexico, I hold a master in Mexican History and have been following this for a while.

Madrazo (PRI candidate) was a zero... Calderon, the PAN candidate is not good either... and Obrador is not the lefty saviour who will save Mexico either. That is the truth... the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And I guess talking to people in the middle of it can be discounted as well... I see.

[papau]

9. ??1969 his brother tried to scare a competitor- and shot himself

Andre Lopez was 15 at the time.

Tabloid accusations that have only plausibility but no facts are not too useful.

Meanwhile, Calderon's brother-in-law "wrote" the vote-counting software.

Does Rove charge a royality on the export of his "successful" ideas?

I agree he was a member of the PRI.

He had an 84% approval rating and a reputation for clean government as head of the Federal District (equivalent of mayor but of a much larger area than the city)

No one has proof that he killed his brother - no matter how much the "media talks about it".

You are correct that he has an authoritarian personality - and while you did not mentioned this - he is known to be hot headed and speaks of his fear of losing control to his temper (this does fit the "killed his brother" story well - but again there is no proof of that killing).

He is a lefty by US standards - the only one in the race.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. I had to turn the puter off due to a thunderstorm

forced computer off

1.As I have pointed before I grew up in Mexico... what is more I WORKED in Emergency Services. I KNOW for a fact that at times, when people were well connected in the 1980s and 90s interesting things happened to legal reports. Shall we say they were not quite reflecting what happened? This is far more of a case back in the 1960s.

Yes Calderon's brother wrote the software, something funny happened on the way to the forum... the votes were paper ballots, so if you want to ahem COUNT the vote you can... one by one, by one... this is NOT diebold. The software he wrote was the one used by the IFE for what is called the Rapid Count.. not that this software writing should not raise any concerns... there is far more of a problem with the Cajas Embarazadas, aka stuffed ballot boxes, which are now being raised with the TRIFE.

What polls are you readying? Before the elections there were four major polling companies running them.. two of them they were in what was called an empate tecnico, aka not enough to declare a winner, the other went one way or the other by a few points-

four the Mexican press is not the US press and the rumors are not in the scream sheets, but in all papers spanning the political spectrum... which by the by are NOT the US press. They span the full spectrum from the far left to the more or less far right.

Where these elections stolen? I want the votes counted... that said to have a candidate already saying that regardless of the result if it does not favor him, does not bode well. But I am sure you will ignore all of this since you have LIVED in mexico (Grew up here); have worked in emergency services (I did) and most importantly I have no idea what press you are readying... after all all the press, whether you like it or not, have complained about the problems in the DF... and the reputation went from slightly cleaner than usual... and business as usual is not clean or transparent to worst than usual. But I am sure you will ignore this, becuase it does not fit your view of the world. As many have told me... none of the above should have been on the official presidential ballot.

But then again, what would MEXICANS living in MEXICO know about this?

By the way, Karl had nothing to do with the Mexican Election... even if choice point was involved... -

[EFerrari]

6. kick

[Cybergata]

11. sfexpat2000, have you changed your avitar or am I just...

imagining things? :crazy: