Tenths of a Percent
Jul 6th, 2006 | By Michel Marizco | Category: General News, Politics
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Lopez's lead has shrunk consistently since the polls closed July 2 when he claimed that he had a 500,000 vote lead over Calderon.
The Federal Electoral Institute maintains there'll be no need to do a hand count of the votes; the agency's president, Luis Carlos Ugalde, told Reforma newspaper that the precinct system has been impeccable.
If Lopez ends up falling behind, he may try to turn Ugalde's words against him though and demand a recount.
I have no preference either way in this election, but hey, fair enough. With a race that is this close, it could be a good idea to make sure Florida doesn't happen in Mexico City.
The gap is still closing, ten minutes after I looked, the numbers are now 35.59% Calderon, to 35.61% Lopez Obrador.
As the lead continues to slip - we're now down to two-tenths of a percent point - and Lopez is getting loud.
He's been complaining throughout the day that more than 50,000 polling places had grave inconsistencies and needed to be recounted.
TV Azteca is showing the IFE's updates, talking heads can't get the words out fast enough.
Calderon's crowd turned their shouts from "Si se puede!" to "Si se pudo!" as soon as the IFE's latest update came in at 3:10 a.m.:
Calderon 35.6 percent
Lopez Obrador 35.59 percent
It's going to be a long night.
Calderon finally came on, to chants of "Pre-seee-dente! Pre-seee-dente!"
"What I can tell you, because I don't want to anticipate what the iFE says, but at this moment, we are ahead at this moment for the presidency of the republic!" he said to a cheering crowd.
"You can draw your own conclusions yourselves," he said.
