Controversies of the 2006 Mexican general election

[1] The runner-up, Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the left-of-center Coalition for the Good of All (PRD, PT, Convergence), immediately challenged the results and led massive marches, protests, and acts of civil resistance in Mexico City.

On August 9, while protests continued to expand, a partial recount was undertaken by election officials after being ordered to do so by the country's Federal Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF, sometimes referred to by the acronym of its predecessor, the TRIFE).

[3] Some civil resistance acts led by Andrés Manuel López Obrador were maintained in an attempt to encourage a change in the country's opinion, as well as other activities such as a documentary by Mexican filmmaker Luis Mandoki.

Under the law then in force, each polling place was manned by randomly selected citizens from the corresponding district, who formed the Mesa Directiva (Directing Committee).

In order to vote, citizens were required to present a valid credencial para votar con fotografía (voter identification card, with photograph).

Once the polling place closed, the Directing Committee was in charge of counting and recording the votes, in the presence of the party representatives (article 229 of the COFIPE).

One is the Programa de Resultados Electorales Preliminares (Preliminary Electoral Results Program, known by its initials PREP); the second was the Conteo Rápido (Quick Count).

According to the official report[9] it had been decided in advance that a winner would be announced and the election called only if the separation between the intervals corresponding to the first two places was greater than 0.6%.

Around 11 pm Luis Carlos Ugalde announced on live television that the technical committee had concluded the difference too small and that the race was too close to call.

[10] Contradictory rumors of whom the count had favored were beginning to surface, and the official report was released a few days later to the press and through the IFE's website to quash them.

In accordance with the COFIPE (the Spanish acronym for the Federal Code of Electoral Procedures and Institutions), the Official Count began on Wednesday July 5, 2006.

The sealed ballot packages together with their signed actas de escrutinio y cómputo (official tally sheets) were collected by the District's Electoral Council.

Returns from several northern states which had heavily favored the PAN according to the PREP were in particular slow to arrive;[12][13] the delay was at least partially attributable to double checking of the tally sheets.

However, it was discovered later that year that Sagem Défense Sécurité, a French company of which Hildebrando is a partner, did provide biometric verification of the database of voters for the IFE.

[45] An October 12, 2006, article[46] by journalist John Ross claimed that Elba Esther Gordillo, the head of the National Education Workers Union (SNTE), was aligned with the PAN.

"[52] Professor Galbraith holds the Lloyd M Bentsen Jr chair of government/business relations at the Lyndon B Johnson school of public affairs, the University of Texas.

According to Mochán (p. 14 in[78]) others have speculated in the press that the majority of overvotes and undervotes come from so-called "contiguous polling places" and are the result of confusion on the part of the voters, who deposited their ballots in the wrong box (the explanation follows).

However, being in close proximity (often without any physical separation between them) it is not uncommon for voters to be confused as to which box corresponds to which polling place (this kind of error is mentioned several times in Mochán's article; see e.g. pp.

Mochán notes that the official totals does not include the information on leftover blank ballots, so that a verification of undervotes and overvotes in the case of adding up errors is impossible.

On August 10, 2006, the PRD filed suit against Calderón, Ugalde, and all nine councilors of the IFE for cybernetic fraud, "given the results that were given in the vote counts on the day of the election, with a tendency in favor of the presidential candidate of the National Action Party.

Citing the polarizing campaign, the number of alleged irregularities, and the closeness of the race, they called on the authorities to order a full recount to "erase any possible doubt" about the outcome of the election.

In a study also by the CEPR, the asymmetry in the changes were further discussed: "The PAN has claimed that any such discrepancies represent merely counting or other clerical errors, rather than fraud.

"[110] The Federal Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF or TRIFE) as a whole, and/or its individual members, has been accused of bias, one-sided political stacking, conflicts of interest, PAN business partnership, revolving-door political nepotism, Supreme Court judgeship ambitions, secret post-electoral meetings with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (a Fox ally), ruling against election annulment due to exaggerated fears of anarchy, etc.. Also, Fox administration interior secretary Carlos Abascal has been accused of pressuring the tribunal.

[36][113][114] In the August 20, 2006 Chiapas state election for governor claims of fraud and irregularities were made by the parties opposing Juan José Sabines Guerrero who represented the Coalition for the Good of All (PRD, PT, Convergence).

López Obrador and his supporters quickly began to organize a campaign to challenge the results of the election, including mass protests, marches, and civil disobedience, culminating in a massive rally in Mexico City's historic Zócalo on July 30, 2006.

A constant location for celebrations and spontaneous gatherings, López Obrador has called together at least three "Informative Assemblies" to be held in the Zócalo and Mexico City's historic centre.

Protests and acts of civil disobedience against the alleged irregularities included: More than 800 photographs of the rallies that have been attended by millions of participants in Mexico City can be seen at the following locations: First Informative Assembly.

[125] Angus Reid Global Scan, Canada, writes: "87 per cent of Canadian respondents are very or somewhat confident that votes in their elections are counted accurately.

The article also reports: "The EU mission, headed by Spanish Deputy José Ignacio Salafranca, said on Thursday that a runoff election would help the nation's electoral system, especially following results as close as this year's, when Felipe Calderón beat Andrés Manuel López Obrador by less than a percentage point.

Members of Congress belonging to the parties in the Coalition had threatened to disrupt the ceremony, with actions similar to those that prevented Vicente Fox from delivering his State of the Union address on September 1.