Mexico court set to rule on presidential vote challenge
Members of the movement ‘YoSoy#132’ and civil organizations take part in a protest against the election results, in Mexico City, on July 10. The movement is protesting against Enrique Pena Nieto, candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), who declared victory in the presidential election, after first official results showed him with 38 percent of the vote.
Mexico's Electoral Court is meeting to rule on an appeal against the result of the July 1 election that named Enrique Pena Nieto president.
Pena Nieto, who is considered center-right, was declared the winner after a recount of nearly half of the votes, according to BBC News.
Leftist runner-up Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador claimed the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) bought five million votes and violated campaign spending limits to make sure Pena Nieto won the election, reported Agence France-Presse. Pena Nieto has denied all charges and Mexican media are said to have predicted the court will rule in his favor, allowing him to begin his six-year term on December 1.
The PRI has often been accused of corruption and vote-rigging during its long rule, noted Reuters. Lopez Obrador has said Pena Nieto is a tool of entrenched interests in Mexico.
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The tribunal said late Wednesday that it was ready to rule on the validity of the election after hearing complaints from the Progressive Movement, a left-wing coalition supporting Lopez Obrador, according to AFP. The former mayor of Mexico City said the PRI returned to its corrupt ways in order to come back into power after a 12-year absence.
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