Mexico election: TNR tees off on AMLO

The New Republic has an article up that is really well written by one Leon Krauze. Mr. Krause, who must spend a lot of time reading this blog, references a video "going around the Internet in Mexico" showing AMLO answering interviewers' quetions some months before the election. At the time of the interviews, AMLO had a lead in the polls and was expected to win. In the video, he promises to honor the Mexican Election Institute's decision, even if he were to lose by only one vote. As Mr. Krause points out, that was before he actually lost by 244,000 more votes than just one.

"When it comes to democracy, you either win or lose," he explains in one interview. "I'm a democrat and I've always said so. Yes, we will respect the IFE's ruling."

Maybe what AMLO meant was that if he were to lose by exactly one vote and one vote only, he would then honor the result. Or maybe not.

Krause asks, in light of AMLO's more recent pronouncements that he will not honor the IFE's decision if it doesn't declare him the winner,

If the result is basically unalterable, what is Andrés Manuel López Obrador hoping to gain by the whole scandal? To some, López Obrador's bet appears to hinge on diminishing Calderón's legitimacy, thereby hindering Mexico's governability for the next six years. Tainted by a supposed fraud, a Calderón presidency would not go far, paving the way for a López Obrador return in 2012. Simply put, the PRD's candidate seems to be gambling with national paralysis for the sake of his own political future. What a curious bet for a self-proclaimed democrat.

This is just a bit irritating because I have not seen this video. Perhaps it hasn't made it this far south, yet.

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TAGS: Mexico election, AMLO