Leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he will file a formal legal challenge this week to the vote count in Mexico’s presidential election. The electoral authority issued final results Friday showing that former ruling party candidate Enrique Pena Nieto won by a 6.6-percentage-point margin, almost exactly the same lead as a quick count gave him the night of the election. The final count, which included a ballot-by-ballot recount at more than half of polling places, showed Pena Nieto getting 38.21 percent of votes in Sunday’s election. Lopez Obrador got 31.59 percent.
Lopez Obrador said the court challenge will be based on the allegation that Pena Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, engaged in vote-buying that illegally tilted millions of votes. PRI officials deny the charge. His supporters planned to take to the streets of Mexico City to protest the results.
‘‘Rivers of illicitly obtained money were used to buy millions of votes,’’ Lopez Obrador said. He said that the recount of ballots at over half of polling places had not been done as thoroughly as promised. The final vote count must be certified in September by the Federal Electoral Tribunal.
Full Article: Loser of Mexican election to challenge vote count – World – The Boston Globe.
