Mexico: Nieto Proclaimed New Leader with 38.21% Vote; Obrador gets 31.59%
The final tally is in from Mexico’s electoral office, and Enrique Peña Nieto is declared the winner of the 2012 presidential elections.
A recount was demanded from his closest rival, according to a report from the Telegraph. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who contested the count, is said to have scored 31.59% of the vote.
Obrador, who also campaigned for the presidency in 2006, and lost to Felipe Calderon, believed fraud increased Nieto’s vote count, reported the CS Monitor. By law, election officials must recount votes at half the polling stations if irregularities seem apparent, such as tally inconsistencies.
Alleging that the election was fraudulent, Obrador also believed that an unfair advantage of media coverage had been given to Nieto of the PRI. Vote-buying by the PRI was charged by some, due to the emergence of video showing food cards given for votes. In the 2006 election, Obrador also declared fraud, and then led a protest in Mexico City. He apparently never recognized the presidency of Mexico’s current leader Calderon.
From an earlier report by the BBC, the issue of drug-related violence never seemed to dominate the campaign. Many analysts believed the drug war would be the primary issue of this election cycle, as it resulted in over 50,000 deaths since 2006.
From the conservative party, Josefina Vázquez Mota received 25 percent, according to the NY Times.
