Saturday 1 September 2012

Court ratifies Mexico's general elections

Mexico's supreme electoral court the TEPJF formally ratified on 31 August the results of the 1 July general elections and declared Enrique Peña Nieto to be the next president, due to take office on 1 December, the Associated Press and media reported. The court's seven members were unanimous; a day before they had rejected leftist politicians' demands that the court cancel the polls for alleged fraud. The court declared that Peña Nieto of the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) won 19,158,592 or 38.2 per cent of all votes cast, Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the leftist Progress Coalition 15,848,827 or 31.6 per cent of votes and the conservative candidate Josefina Vázquez Mota of the National Action Party (PAN), 12,731,630 votes. The PRI president Pedro Joaquín Coldwell said that day that the decision "fully accredited" the PRI's victory, which has been challenged by López Obrador's Democratic Revolutionary Party, the PAN and certain civil groups. Joaquín Colwell urged López Obrador to respect the decision and Mexico's "institutions." Enrique Peña Nieto declared at the TEPJF's offices in Mexico City that the decision opened a new period of "work with shared responsibility." He said he was aware of "national needs and urgencies" and would lead a "modern and responsible" government "open to criticism," EFE reported on 31 August. He promised to honour campaign promises and meet Mexicans' expectations with "deeds, works and actions."