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| Peña Nieto: Mexicans have given our party a second chance | Peña Nieto: Mexicans have given our party a second chance |
| (6 days later) | |
| The party that governed Mexico for 71 years until its reputation for coercion, corruption, economic mismanagement and vote-rigging finally forced it out of power in 2000 has claimed an emphatic election victory behind its charismatic candidate, Enrique Peña Nieto. | The party that governed Mexico for 71 years until its reputation for coercion, corruption, economic mismanagement and vote-rigging finally forced it out of power in 2000 has claimed an emphatic election victory behind its charismatic candidate, Enrique Peña Nieto. |
| Official results with 95% of the votes counted gave the Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI) 38% of the vote and a six-point lead in a count of a sample of polling stations. Opinion polls had predicted a 10- to 17-point lead for the PRI. | Official results with 95% of the votes counted gave the Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI) 38% of the vote and a six-point lead in a count of a sample of polling stations. Opinion polls had predicted a 10- to 17-point lead for the PRI. |
| "Mexicans have given our party a second chance," Peña Nieto told chanting supporters after President Felipe Calderón phoned to congratulate him. "We will honour it with results and with a new form of governing that responds to the demands of Mexico in the 21st century." | "Mexicans have given our party a second chance," Peña Nieto told chanting supporters after President Felipe Calderón phoned to congratulate him. "We will honour it with results and with a new form of governing that responds to the demands of Mexico in the 21st century." |
| Reporters inside the PRI's imposing modernist complex in the capital saw few of the so-called party dinosaurs, who still hold sway within the organisation, during a carefully-managed victory celebration that featured a stage adorned with seven Mexican flags, confetti, and the rousing strains of the mariachi classic Cielito Lindo. Elated young supporters chanted: "We are the PRI to come." | Reporters inside the PRI's imposing modernist complex in the capital saw few of the so-called party dinosaurs, who still hold sway within the organisation, during a carefully-managed victory celebration that featured a stage adorned with seven Mexican flags, confetti, and the rousing strains of the mariachi classic Cielito Lindo. Elated young supporters chanted: "We are the PRI to come." |
| Peña Nieto, the former governor of Mexico's most populous state, the State of Mexico, promised there would be "no return to the past". | Peña Nieto, the former governor of Mexico's most populous state, the State of Mexico, promised there would be "no return to the past". |
| He vowed to alleviate the poverty affecting around half the population with a "renewed free market with social sensitivity", and countered charges that the PRI is likely to seek deals with the drug cartels. "There will be no pact or truce with organised crime," he pledged. | He vowed to alleviate the poverty affecting around half the population with a "renewed free market with social sensitivity", and countered charges that the PRI is likely to seek deals with the drug cartels. "There will be no pact or truce with organised crime," he pledged. |
| Peña Nieto also reached out to the student movement, which rejected him as a superficial makeover of the old regime constructed by the broadcasting giant Televisa. "I share your desires and I understand your complaints," the candidate said. "I also want a new country, a successful country that recognises the potential and the talent of every Mexican." | Peña Nieto also reached out to the student movement, which rejected him as a superficial makeover of the old regime constructed by the broadcasting giant Televisa. "I share your desires and I understand your complaints," the candidate said. "I also want a new country, a successful country that recognises the potential and the talent of every Mexican." |
| But the students were unconvinced. One group, which calls itself I Am 132 in reference to an early protest in May, released a video showing several rows of glum-looking young people who said they "energetically reject the imposition of a candidate". | But the students were unconvinced. One group, which calls itself I Am 132 in reference to an early protest in May, released a video showing several rows of glum-looking young people who said they "energetically reject the imposition of a candidate". |
| The students reiterated allegations that Peña Nieto had benefited unfairly from favourable coverage in the mass media. They also said the election had been plagued by irregularities and episodes of violence that meant polling day "did not take place in the atmosphere of peace and legality that is necessary to ensure a free and reasoned vote". They said web pages they had set up to collate reports of irregularities were systematically hacked during the day. The 500-odd complaints they did manage to collect included many cases of vote-buying, as well as a few incidents of violence near polling booths. | The students reiterated allegations that Peña Nieto had benefited unfairly from favourable coverage in the mass media. They also said the election had been plagued by irregularities and episodes of violence that meant polling day "did not take place in the atmosphere of peace and legality that is necessary to ensure a free and reasoned vote". They said web pages they had set up to collate reports of irregularities were systematically hacked during the day. The 500-odd complaints they did manage to collect included many cases of vote-buying, as well as a few incidents of violence near polling booths. |
| The electoral authorities, backed by most of the media and many observers, described the election as "exemplary", however. | The electoral authorities, backed by most of the media and many observers, described the election as "exemplary", however. |
| At a press conference Peña Nieto listed the international recognition his victory has already received, including a phone call from Barack Obama and a letter from the British government. | At a press conference Peña Nieto listed the international recognition his victory has already received, including a phone call from Barack Obama and a letter from the British government. |
| Peña Nieto's closest rival, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of the Party of Democratic Revolution, or PRD, told his supporters he would not respond to the results until Wednesday, by which time all the official information from polling stations is due to have been processed. "The last word has not been spoken," López Obrador said, leaving himself room to question the legitimacy of the PRI's apparent victory but holding back from the vehement cries of fraud that accompanied his refusal to accept defeat in the last presidential election, six years ago. | Peña Nieto's closest rival, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of the Party of Democratic Revolution, or PRD, told his supporters he would not respond to the results until Wednesday, by which time all the official information from polling stations is due to have been processed. "The last word has not been spoken," López Obrador said, leaving himself room to question the legitimacy of the PRI's apparent victory but holding back from the vehement cries of fraud that accompanied his refusal to accept defeat in the last presidential election, six years ago. |
| The governing Party of National Action (PAN) candidate, Josefina Vázquez Mota, accepted defeat even before the announcement of the quick count, which gave her 25.5% of the vote. | The governing Party of National Action (PAN) candidate, Josefina Vázquez Mota, accepted defeat even before the announcement of the quick count, which gave her 25.5% of the vote. |
| Vázquez Mota's campaign was hampered by frustration at the drug-war violence that rages in many parts of the country and the mediocre economic growth that has accompanied two successive PAN administrations, first under President Vicente Fox and then under Calderón. | Vázquez Mota's campaign was hampered by frustration at the drug-war violence that rages in many parts of the country and the mediocre economic growth that has accompanied two successive PAN administrations, first under President Vicente Fox and then under Calderón. |
| Germán Martínez, a former PAN party chairman, ended an opinion piece in the daily Reforma entitled A Disaster, with a call to his own party to apologise to voters, "whom we have let down with our errors". | Germán Martínez, a former PAN party chairman, ended an opinion piece in the daily Reforma entitled A Disaster, with a call to his own party to apologise to voters, "whom we have let down with our errors". |
| José Alfredo Valdez, a salesman from Mexico City who voted for the PAN, saw a positive side to his party's debacle and predicted a qualified honeymoon period for the new president. "Within the bad there is always good," he said. "They PRI did many bad things in their time but they know the ins and outs of politics like nobody else. They get things done in the way the PAN just did not. There is a part of Mexico that has not changed very much, but other parts ." | José Alfredo Valdez, a salesman from Mexico City who voted for the PAN, saw a positive side to his party's debacle and predicted a qualified honeymoon period for the new president. "Within the bad there is always good," he said. "They PRI did many bad things in their time but they know the ins and outs of politics like nobody else. They get things done in the way the PAN just did not. There is a part of Mexico that has not changed very much, but other parts ." |
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