Mexican election winner remains in doubt

Press, 12 July 1988, Page 9

Mexican election winner remains in doubt

NZPA-Reuter

Mexico City

Victory remained in doubt yesterday in Mexico’s controversial Presidential poll, claimed both by the ruling party and the Centre-Left Opposition, as the election commission began a count that could take days.

While most available evidence points to a win by the ruling Institutional Party’s (P.R.1.) Carlos Salinas de Gortari, the Opposition’s strong showing in Wednesday’s election has created an unusual air of uncertainty in Latin America’s . most stable democracy. The commission’s decision to consider party objections to the results on a case-by-case basis as the counting goes on means the process could stretch well into the week, leav-

ing a vacuum that the Opposition may want to exploit. A spokesman for the conservative National Action Party (P.A.N.) told Reuters that party supporters had been using cars to blockade two bridges between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, Texas, across the United States border since Saturday night to protest against election irregularities. He said traffic was crossing the Rio Bravo on

a third bridge and there had been no violence. Final results of the elections had originally been promised for Sunday.

As party officials debated procedure at the election commission, a crowd of about 100 young Mexican socialists demonstrated outside the building, chanting, “Nobody can fool the people of this country.” The P.R.1., apparently anxious to end the uncertainty, has already ac-

knowledged it lost at least two Senate seats for the first time in 59 years, but maintains that its Presidential victory is not in doubt. The Centre-Left coalition of Cuauhtemoc Cardenas and the conservative P.A.N. of Manuel Clouthier are unlikely to let the gains they believe they have made slip through their fingers without a fight. Mr Cardenas, the son of one of Mexico’s most

popular Presidents, announced late on Saturday night that he had won the Presidency, while Mr Clouthier called for a campaign of civil disobedience if the election results are seen as rigged. Mr Clouthier told a rally of 75,000 in Mexico City’s Zocalo square that there should be a national referendum on July 30 to confirm the public’s acceptance of the official results.