> Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2006 22:13:10 -0400
> From: "Julio Huato" <juliohuato at gmail.com>
> Subject: [lbo-talk] Mexico update
> To: "PEN-L Send" <PEN-L at sus.csuchico.edu>, "Lbo Talk Lbo Talk"
> <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>
> Message-ID:
> <995cfd590607031913ue8a0266n2b4d6a99265f4f4a at mail.gmail.com>
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>
> The media is trying to present Calderón as the evident winner, with
> 36.38% of the votes, versus López Obrador's 35.34%. It appears to be
> the establishment consensus. Not so fast, says López Obrador.
>
> At the end of election day, each polling place had to post --
> physically -- a tally on the outside. So people can look at it -- and
> take pictures with their cell phones or digital cameras. Over the net,
> López Obrador's supporters organized the collection of these photos,
> and the numbers shown in those photos do not match those published
> online on the PREP of the Instituto Federal Electoral.
>
> It seems obvious that trickery was involved. There are dozens of
> photos circulating on the web. For example, I saw one showing 188
> votes for López Obrador that the PREP recorded as 88. In other
> instances, 194 is changed to 144. Etc. In a phrase, "vote shaving"
> -- a few votes here, a few votes there, soon you're talking real
> votes.
>
> Overall, López Obrador told the press, there are 3 million votes
> unaccounted for. It seems stupid, because the data on turnout is
> there, yet you add up all the votes (including the null votes) and you
> fall short of the total figure. Hmm...
>
> So, López Obrador calmly told the press he's sticking to the
> institutional process, including appeal and all that, but he's saying
> that the PREP data cannot be taken seriously, because it's unreliable.
>
> López Obrador is no Al Gore nor John Kerry. The people who support
> him are outraged and convinced this is an attempt to subvert the
> people's will. He's been a fighter his whole life -- he seems calm
> and ready to do whatever it takes to right these wrongs. So I think
> he really means it when he says he'll defend each and every vote.
>
> But we'll see.
>
> Julio
-- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org