Mexico leftist still demanding full recount

MEXICO CITY – Leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had not even taken the stage when his supporters began chanting, indicating they were ready to seize the city’s air terminal after the top electoral court rejected a full recount of the disputed presidential election.

Lopez Obrador, speaking to tens of thousands of followers in the city center, asked his supporters Sunday to remain peaceful and prepare for a long-term battle.

“Even if I wind up alone, if I have the conviction that I am fighting for a just cause, I would continue, stubbornly,” Lopez Obrador said.

The massive rally confirmed fears that protests will drag on, perhaps for weeks. Lopez Obrador asked his followers to man indefinitely the week-old sprawling protest camps that have brought much of the capital’s normally thriving center to a halt. The blockades have snarled traffic, costing the city an estimated $23 million a day.

The former Mexico City mayor said he would continue to demand a full recount in the presidential race, despite the Federal Electoral Tribunal’s decision Saturday in favor of a partial recount. Electoral officials across the nation will begin sifting through ballots from 9 percent of the nation’s 130,000 polling places on Wednesday, wrapping up their work by the weekend.

Lopez Obrador asked his supporters to gather in front of the tribunal this evening, likely halting traffic on yet another main Mexico City street. He said he would demand the court “correct” its decision.

Protesters suggested taking over Congress, a move that would almost certainly trigger confrontations. Security has been increased at both the Congress and the airport.

While Lopez Obrador did not say whether he would eventually approve such actions, he did promise “new actions, new measure of civil resistance.” He asked his followers “to prepare ourselves for a struggle that may last longer.”

The Mexico City government, controlled by Lopez Obrador’s Democratic Revolution Party, has protected the protest camps that have blocked the elegant Reforma Avenue and the Zocalo. But on Sunday, police chief Joel Ortega indicated his patience was wearing thin.

“Everything has a limit,” he told a news conference.

Lopez Obrador’s supporters were enraged by the tribunal’s ruling against their demands for a ballot-by-ballot recount, which they argue will show the leftist was the true winner of the July 2 election.