MEXICO CITY – Compromise seemed more elusive than ever in Mexico’s bitter presidential election dispute on Monday, one day after leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador mounted the largest protest in Mexican history.

Analysts said the demonstration, during which more than 1 million people jammed this city’s main square and the surrounding streets, didn’t change anything – the dispute still must be resolved by the Federal Electoral Tribunal, known as TRIFE.

But the rally sparked an unusually indignant response from the July 2 election’s apparent winner, conservative Felipe Calderon, and many of the capital’s commentators, promising more acrimony in the weeks ahead.

Cesar Nava, a Calderon spokesman, said that the election would be decided “by votes, not by marches,” and that the National Action Party, or PAN, wouldn’t succumb to the “blackmail” of street protests.

One Mexico City newspaper, Milenio, dubbed the demonstration “the great yellow beast,” referring to the swarms of yellow-clad Lopez Obrador supporters – many of them elderly and poor – who believe the election was stolen.

“OK, so you’ve put a million people in the streets,” said Mexican political observer Jorge Chabat. “So what’s the conclusion? Nothing.”
realcities.com

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