Mexico's leftist opposition leader said on Sunday he will never
recognize his right-wing rival as president and vowed a "radical
transformation" of the country by setting up a parallel
government.
Mexico's electoral court is almost certain to confirm the ruling
party's Felipe Calderon as president-elect this week, but Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador insists he was robbed in the July 2
election.
"We will never accept usurpation nor recognize a president-elect
who is illegitimate," the former mayor of Mexico City told a rally
of thousands of supporters in the capital's main square.
"We are going for deep change, root change, because that is what
Mexico needs," he said. "It is a radical transformation. We are
going for the construction of a new country that is fair and
honorable."
For more than a month, his leftist supporters have been
protesting the election result by occupying the giant Zocalo
square, the symbolic center of power in Mexico since Aztec times.
They have also taken over a long section of the main Reforma
boulevard, paralyzing the city center and causing traffic
chaos.
Lopez Obrador did not say how he plans to set up a parallel
government but in the past he said his supporters could continue
the current street protests for years if necessary. He has also
promised to avoid violence.
Leftist lawmakers seized the podium in Congress and refused to
allow President Vicente Fox to deliver his last state of the nation
address on Friday night. He withdrew from Congress and made his
speech on TV instead.
If Calderon is declared president-elect, leftist deputies could
repeat that tactic on December 1 when he would have to enter
Congress to don the presidential sash and give an acceptance speech
to start his six-year term.
Lopez Obrador said he and his supporters would draw up a plan
for a new nation at a convention in the Zocalo on September 16,
Mexico's independence day.
"We will not only decide on our form of government ... but
something very important will also be defined: the basic plan for
the transformation of Mexico," said Lopez Obrador, of the Party of
the Democratic Revolution.
Calderon, a former energy minister favored by business leaders
for his free-market policies, says the election was fair and fully
expects to be declared president-elect.
Mexico's top electoral court must declare a new president by
Wednesday. Its ruling cannot be appealed.
The court has already thrown out Lopez Obrador's allegations of
massive fraud. It still has to give a final result, declare the
election was clean, and name the winner.
The initial result showed that Calderon, of the National Action
Party, won by around 244,000 votes, or just 0.58 of a percentage
point.
(Chinadaily.com via agencies September 4, 2006)
