Mexico: election now before the Electoral Court
The McClatchy Newspapers report: The drab concrete building of fortresslike towers, surrounded by a high steel fence of spiked poles, hints little at the momentous history that's about to unfold inside. Only the colorful sidewalk camp of hunger strikers suggests its importance: They're vowing not to eat again until they see a recount.
The seven justices who will decide Mexico's bitterly disputed presidential election work here. ...
For the 10-year-old Electoral Court of the Federal Judiciary -- as well as for Mexico's nascent democracy -- this is uncharted territory: Left-leaning populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador refuses to concede defeat to conservative Felipe Calderón, claiming fraud in a July 2 election that left them separated by barely a half-percent of the 41 million votes.
Although there are faint echoes of the U.S. election crisis in 2000, Obrador vs. Calderón isn't Bush vs. Gore in Spanish.
For one, there's no U.S. equivalent to the tribunal. It was created in 1996 to handle election challenges in a nation with a history of stolen or fixed elections. Presiding over the tribunal is Leonel Castillo, a career jurist who started in 1981 as a district court judge. Those who know him say he's a by-the-book constitutionalist who's not likely to be swayed by the public demonstrations López Obrador has held. -- Metro/Regional News - Mexico judges to get the last word - sacbee.com