MEXICO CITY, July 14 Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the embattled leftist presidential candidate, said Friday that he would never concede defeat, even if a recount of all ballots upheld a victory for his opponent, Felipe Calderon. But he added that if the courts did order a recount and he lost, he would call off demonstrations.

‘For me this election is fraudulent from start to finish,’ Mr. Lopez Obrador said in an interview broadcast on CNN.

Mr. Lopez Obrador seemed to be pressuring a seven-member electoral tribunal to order a recount while, at the same time, positioning himself to become the leader of a left-wing opposition that will never recognize the validity of the next government, if the court rules against him.

‘He doesn’t want to be the leader of the loyal opposition,’ said Federico Estevez, a political scientist at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico. ‘He’s perfectly happy to be the leader of the disloyal opposition, and that’s what he is poised to do.’
nytimes.com

Lopez Obrador widens election fraud claims

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