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Suppose that Al Gore had rejected the Supreme Court's ruling, called on Democrats to occupy the Washington Mall for six weeks, and had himself sworn in on January 1, 2001, pledging to run an alternative government and "at all costs" to stop George W. Bush from taking office on the appointed day, January 20. The fact that none of this came to pass attests to the strength of American institutions and to the integrity of our political leadership. Change the names, dates, and places, however, and we have what's now happening in Mexico. Presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador lost...

As his critics dismiss it as an act of a loser's desperation, Mexican leftist Lopez Obrador declares himself presidentMEXICO CITY — Mexico's nearly five-month-old political standoff took a surreal twist Monday when the losing presidential candidate was "sworn in" before tens of thousands of cheering supporters. "I take the oath to fulfill the Constitution of the Republic as the legitimate president of Mexico," declared Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, after donning the "presidential sash," shimmering in the green, white and red of the Mexican flag. His followers chanted "Presidente! Presidente!" Many had traveled hundreds of miles, braving bitter cold to pack...

Mexico leftist to swear in as "legitimate president" By Kieran Murray Mon Nov 20, 1:19 PM ET MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's leftist opposition leader was to swear in as "legitimate president" on Monday to revive his flagging campaign against a July election he says was rigged and to prevent his conservative rival from running the country. Tens of thousands of supporters were expected to cram into Mexico City's vast Zocalo square to see Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador take an oath of office in a ceremony that has no legal weight but could mark the start of new street protests....

The stations of the Metro Collective System of Transport (STC), which come together in the downtown district, will not be closed but some interruption of circulation will become necessary. Starting at 1:00 p.m. [Saturday] the police operation will get underway, in which 750 officers of the units of Citizen Protection will participate, as well as the Rescue Squadron and Emergency Medical Services (ERUM)1, to protect the meeting which Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador has called for in the Zócalo capital plaza this Saturday. The monitoring authority will consider which interruptions of circulation are necessary; and in addition, all the stations of...

Mexico's Lopez Obrador loves a good fightMARK STEVENSON Associated Press NACAJUCA, Mexico - The role of a man cheated out of an election comes naturally to Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. In 1994, after narrowly losing the Tabasco governor's race to Roberto Madrazo, he called on his supporters and governed from the streets, undermining Madrazo's already fragile administration. He at least beat Madrazo this time, in the race for Mexico's president, only to find himself just shy of a victory over ruling party candidate Felipe Calderon. While Calderon begins planning his government, Lopez Obrador is planning what he lives for: a...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's conservative presidential candidate, Felipe Calderon, snatched a razor-thin election victory on Thursday, but his leftist rival vowed to fight the result in the courts and on the streets. The Harvard-educated Calderon had an insurmountable lead with 35.87 percent of the vote and only a few dozen polling stations pending. Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute said it would declare the winner on the basis of these overall results. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a combative left-wing former Mexico City mayor, was 0.57 points behind Calderon and angrily claimed the vote was plagued with irregularities. He pledged to fight...

Mexico's centre-left presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said he will challenge the outcome of Sunday's presidential election. He spoke as the almost complete results gave a razor-thin victory to his conservative rival, Felipe Calderon. Mr Lopez Obrador said he would appeal to the courts, and urged his supporters to rally in Mexico City's main square. The results came after electoral officials worked around the clock to verify ballots from the 2 July poll.

Mexico undertook a tense official recount of its contested presidential election yesterday that with 83% of the vote counted showed a different outcome than Sunday's results, with populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador leading conservative candidate Felipe Calderón by a 36.5% to 34.7% margin. The mixed results produced confusion and tension in Mexico. Mr. Calderon's National Action Party, or PAN, said it was still confident of winning the recount because most of the remaining districts were in areas the party had won. For instance, the preliminary count on Sunday showed that each major candidate won half of Mexico's 32 states. By...