MEXICO'S ruling party on Tuesday rejected claims that three million ballots from the presidential election were missing, and insisted that its candidate, Felipe Calderon, had won the vote. "The three million votes are not missing," said German Martinez Cesares, the electoral representative of the National Action Party (PAN), adding that the ballots were set aside for further consideration because of alleged "inconsistencies."
He insisted that double-checking questionable files was a normal process which Mr Calderon's leftist rival had blown out of proportion. He said that, in any case, the verification process that starts on Wednesday would demonstrate that "Calderon's advantage is irreversible" and that the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) "must declare Calderon president-elect."
IFE has until Sunday to complete the process, but leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who claimed three million votes were unaccounted for, said he might take the issue to the Federal Electoral Tribunal (Trife), the final arbiter of electoral disputes. Trife has until September 6 to render its final verdict, which was a mere formality in the past two elections held since the tribunal was created. |