Mexican leftists continue election protests

Leftist activists blockaded bank headquarters and called for a march on the offices of federal prosecutors, as officials recounted some of the ballots from Mexico’s disputed presidential election.

Continuing a wave of protests against alleged electoral fraud, dozens of supporters of presidential hopeful Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador blocked entrances to the main offices of three foreign-owned banks in Mexico City, chanting “Vote by vote!” and “Long live democracy!”

The former Mexico City mayor is demanding a recount of all 41 million ballots from the July 2 election, instead of the partial recount of about 9% of the polling booth, which officials began yesterday.

Initial election results gave conservative National Action Party candidate Felipe Calderon a 240,000-vote, or less than 0.6%, lead over leftist Lopez Obrador.

Lopez Obrador aides called for activists to protest outside the federal attorney general’s office in the capital today.

“We don’t accept this recount,” Lopez Obrador told thousands of his supporters in Mexico City’s central plaza last night.

Lopez Obrador’s campaign team said they found that vote tally sheets were different from actual votes in about 60% of the ballot boxes examined, and that 18% had been opened after the elections.

However, National Action officials said their observers had witnessed no major irregularities in any partial recount and said a recount in the western Jalisco state gave Calderon about 2,000 additional votes.

The partial recount must finish by Sunday. The Federal Electoral Tribunal will review the results and can then declare a president-elect by September 6, annul the election or order a greater recount.