Zapatistas Received Reports of Electoral Fraud in Mexico Presidential Election

Mexico's presidential election is still too close to call as electoral authorities work round the clock to verify vote tallies from Sunday's poll.

With nearly 98 percent of the vote tallies recounted, conservative candidate Felipe Calderon holds a razor-thin lead over populist rival Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Both candidates have insisted they will win the election.

The Federal Electoral Institute says it expects to announce the result soon. As the final figures come in, the gap between the two candidates has narrowed to just thousands of votes out of a total of 41 million ballots cast.

Lopez Obrador refused to accept preliminary results issued earlier this week that gave Calderon a narrow lead. He alleged there had been "serious evidence of fraud", and said that if he lost he would call for a ballot-by-ballot recount. He said the initial results had "many inconsistencies" and his party claimed some voting places were counted twice while others were not counted at all. Lopez Obrador isn't the only one alleging voter manipulation. Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos says he also received reports of electoral fraud. He spoke about the election in a radio insurgente broadcast in Mexico City on Monday.

* Subcomandante Marcos, radio broadcast on July 3rd, 2006. Taped and translated by independent filmmaker Rick Rowley of Big Noise Films.

LISTEN ONLINE:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/06/1349226