http://www.presstv.com/detail/2012/07/03/249077/pri-victory-mexico-presidential-election-prd-candidate-wont-concede/
Tue Jul 3, 2012 2:33AM GMT
Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
PRI candidate Enrique Pena Nieto is claiming victory in the Mexican presidential election, but PRD candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says he will not concede until all votes are counted.
With more than 93 percent of the votes counted, Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate Pena Nieto leads with 37.95 percent of votes, about six points ahead of his nearest rival, Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) candidate Lopez Obrador, the country's federal election institute announced on Monday.
Lopez Obrador, however, has not admitted defeat, saying he will await a full count and legal review.
"We need to know all the results," he said, adding, "We have information that indicates something different from what they're saying officially."
In 2006, Lopez Obrador supporters paralyzed the streets of Mexico City with hundreds of thousands of supporters after it was found he lost the election to President Felipe Calderon by less than 1 percentage point.
Finishing in third place was Josefina Vazquez Mota, the candidate of Calderon's governing conservative National Action Party (PAN), who took 25.47 percent of the vote and has already conceded defeat.
Pena Nieto’s victory, if confirmed, will mark a dramatic comeback for the party that has been out of power since 2000, but which governed Mexico for the previous 71 years.
“The Mexican people have given our party a second opportunity,” Pena Nieto told supporters in a speech at his party's headquarters in Mexico City.
“I will be a modern, responsible president, open to criticism, ready to listen and taking into account the views of everyone. The country is demanding collaboration and, most importantly, results,” he said.
More than 70 million people were eligible to cast their ballots on Sunday and choose their president, members of parliament, and state governors.
With nearly half of Mexico's 112 million people living in poverty, the economy has been one of the main issues in the election campaign.
The war on drugs that was launched nearly six years ago by President Calderon was another issue dominating the campaign. His military crackdown on drug cartels has turned parts of the country into war zones.
More than 55,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since 2006.
MN/MF/HGL
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