Well let us keep in mind that this is only Mexico's
second election historically so I'm not suprised there is so much frustration, outrage, passion, etc over this election. Also, keep in mind this was quite a polarized election with canidate
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador with 35.44% of the votes and offical election winner
Calderon with 35.74%. According to the Federal Electoral Tribunal in Mexico...Calderon has won fair andsquarely, which I personally agree with. However, Leftist Andres Lopez, whether for his own need to show off power or his legitimate concern for the future of those supporting him(mainly poor and urban Mexicans) will challenge the decision come monday asking for a recount of 41 million votes.
"We are going to the Federal Electoral Tribunal with the same demand - that the votes be counted - because we cannot accept these results," he said, adding that there had been "many irregularities". -Andre Lopez.
Since I don't live in Mexico and know very little about their election process, I won't attempt to make comments on whether this call for a recount is justified or not. What I will comment on is the overall impact of this election on the politics of Mexico and the Americas.
If the leftist canidate, Lopez were to be elected we might see the same progress that we saw in Fox's term (very little). This qoute and article from economist.com might help explain why I've come to this conlusion:
"'Mr López Obrador rejects the comparisons with Hugo Chávez or Lula. “You can't put it like that. Each country has its own history...I'm neither a populist nor a neo-liberal but a humanist,” he says vaguely. He slams the economic policy of the past two decades as a “failure” that has delivered “zero per capita growth”. (In fact, per capita income has grown since 1982, but at an unimpressive rate of around 0.5% a year.) But he told The Economist that he would maintain Mr Fox's strict macro-economic policy (“you can't have deficits”
while cutting wasteful spending on the bureaucracy and reassigning it to public works. He rules out throwing open Mexico's state energy monopolies to private investment. But he says that he would lighten the tax burden on Pemex, the oil firm, to allow it to invest more, so that “in three years” the country would be self-sufficient in gas and petrol. He would respect NAFTA but seek to add “co-operation for development” to free trade in goods.
Alll this suggests a pragmatist, but one who does not necessarily understand or welcome the kind of liberalising reforms that Mexico needs to get the most out of NAFTA or strengthen its democracy. “His vision is not a radical one but it's not a 21st-century one either,” says Denise Dresser, a political scientist at Mexico City's ITAM university"
http://www.economist.com/cities/displaystory.cfm?story_id=4010587
For those of you who are worried over the recent leftist tilt taking place in the southern hemisphere this recent Mexican election should come as a breath of fresh air. Afterall, it appears as if Lopez is not going to win and even if he did, he dosn't seem to share the same radical leftist ideology as Hugo Chavez and his "Latin American Revolution" of sorts. And what of soon-to-be President Felipe Calderon? His plans seem pretty straight forward; continue to reform that Vincent Fox has been trying (and failing) to do, but faster. Considering the nation is highly divided on nearly every economic issue...I doubt he will be able to succeed where Fox failed, but it's worth a try. And how does Mr. Calderon's win going to affect the U.S. immigration "problem"? Well...
"...He [Felipe Calderon] also said he would push for a migration agreement with the US to legalise residency for Mexicans who have lived there for over three years."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5114388.stm
...like everything else in Mexico...we'll just have to wait and see.
