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Mexican vote too close to call

Leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and conservative Felipe Calderon both claimed victory in Mexico's presidential election on Sunday, even though authorities said the race was too close to call.

Tensions rose as supporters took to the streets in rival celebrations despite an official announcement the winner would not be declared for several days.

"According to our data we have won the vote by at least 500,000 votes. This is irreversible," said Lopez Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor who champions the cause of the millions of impoverished Mexicans.

"We will demonstrate our triumph," he told thousands of jubilant supporters in the capital's historic Zocalo square, who also celebrated the triumph of his Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) in the capital's mayoral race.

Supporters chanted "no to fraud" and "Obrador, president."

Conservative Felipe Calderon, of the ruling National Action Party (PAN), also claimed victory.

"We have won the presidential elections," he said, pointing to several projections and a partial count that put him in the lead.

With votes from about 62 percent of the polling stations counted, Calderon had almost 38 percent, 1.44 points ahead of his rival. But authorities said they would start verifying the ballot count on Wednesday.

The cliffhanger was closely followed in Washington, which evidently hoped to see a reversal of the trend that brought several leftist leaders to power in Latin America over the past few years.

US Ambassador Antonio Garcia urged Mexicans to await official results, and said the US administration looked forward to working "with whoever is declared the winner."

Calderon's campaign has likened the leftist candidate to Venezuela's virulently anti-US President Hugo Chavez, and warned he would plunge the country into a ruinous economic crisis.

Analysts generally dismiss the comparison and say that while Lopez Obrador has little interest in foreign policy, he is not hostile to the US, by far Mexico's largest trading partner.

But Eduardo Matias Lopez, 50, who fled Cuba 20 years ago and has since become a Mexican citizen, worried about the consequences of a possible Lopez Obrador victory.

"I am afraid we could have a regime like that of Venezuela or Cuba," he said as he stood in line to cast his ballot in the capital.

"I fled Cuba because of an authoritarian regime and I will flee again if there is a similar regime in Mexico," he said.

Lopez Obrador, 52, angrily rejects suggestions his policies would be anything less than democratic, and insists that the reforms he plans would improve the lot of downtrodden.

"If Lopez Obrador wins, there will be social change. It won't be a radical change, but the situation will improve, particularly for the most needy," said physical therapist Margarita Grijalba, 50, who woke up before dawn to vote.

Lopez Obrador says he would finance major job-creating infrastructure projects and hand out financial aid to elderly and handicapped people, as he did when he was mayor of Mexico City from 2000 to last year.

For his part, Calderon, 43, a staunchly conservative former energy minister, wants to encourage foreign investment and slash corporate taxes in order to boost economic growth.

His rival insists the wealth is not trickling down to the millions of Mexicans who live on less than US$2 a day and who in many cases risk their lives by crossing the border illegally in search of the American dream.

Mexico's next president, who will take office on Dec. 1, will face formidable challenges.
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