Mexican presidential candidate Felipe Calderon

Electoral officials July 3 said a preliminary count gave Calderon an edge of 1 percentage point over Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the former Mexico City mayor who promises to put the poor first. But they refused to declare a winner until the results of an official count that began July 5 are announced.

Lopez Obrador claimed there were irregularities in the election and as many as 3 million votes that couldn't be accounted for.

With 98.45 percent of polling stations reporting, Calderon had 36.38 percent and Lopez Obrador had 35.34 percent. The Institutional Revolutionary Party's Roberto Madrazo was a distant third with 21.57 percent.

The Japan Times Weekly: July 8, 2006
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