Tuesday, August 08, 2006
THE AUSTRALIAN
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,20068026,00.html
Mexican activists seize toll boothsFrom correspondents in Mexico City
09aug06
LEFTIST activists took over toll booths in Mexico's capital today and allowed cars to move through without paying to protest alleged fraud in the July 2 presidential vote, the local radio station Formato 21 reported.
"This action is courtesy of the coalition," said Gerardo Fernandez, a spokesman for the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), whose candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador barely lost the election.
PRD supporters seized the toll booths on three highways and let cars pass through free as they entered and left Mexico City.
One said it was only a temporary action, though without saying how long they would hold the toll booths.
Lopez Obrador lost the July 2 vote by a mere 0.58 per cent of the vote to conservative National Action Party candidate Felipe Calderon.
On Sunday, the country's elections tribunal rejected Mr Lopez Obrador's petition for a recount of all 41.7 million votes cast and ruled for a narrower review of votes in only nine per cent of the 130,000 voting stations.
Lopez Obrador has alleged that widespread fraud led to his conservative rival's victory.
In a speech to supporters in front of the electoral tribunal's offices, he vowed yesterday to keep up a campaign of peaceful protest against the fraud and to reform Mexico's institutions.
Mexican activists seize toll boothsFrom correspondents in Mexico City
09aug06
LEFTIST activists took over toll booths in Mexico's capital today and allowed cars to move through without paying to protest alleged fraud in the July 2 presidential vote, the local radio station Formato 21 reported.
"This action is courtesy of the coalition," said Gerardo Fernandez, a spokesman for the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), whose candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador barely lost the election.
PRD supporters seized the toll booths on three highways and let cars pass through free as they entered and left Mexico City.
One said it was only a temporary action, though without saying how long they would hold the toll booths.
Lopez Obrador lost the July 2 vote by a mere 0.58 per cent of the vote to conservative National Action Party candidate Felipe Calderon.
On Sunday, the country's elections tribunal rejected Mr Lopez Obrador's petition for a recount of all 41.7 million votes cast and ruled for a narrower review of votes in only nine per cent of the 130,000 voting stations.
Lopez Obrador has alleged that widespread fraud led to his conservative rival's victory.
In a speech to supporters in front of the electoral tribunal's offices, he vowed yesterday to keep up a campaign of peaceful protest against the fraud and to reform Mexico's institutions.
# posted by Nancy T. @ 7:23 PM 
