Left Prepares Legal Challenge to Mexican Election Result

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the leftwing candidate in Mexico's too-close-to-call presidential election, is preparing to challenge the result in the courts after his rival, Felipe Calderón, was given a narrow lead in the preliminary count.

The preliminary count was closed yesterday night with tallied votes from over 98% of polling booths giving Mr Calderón a one point advantage over Mr López Obrador. The electoral authorities said they would not announce a winner until after a recount due to begin today and expected to last until Friday.

Visibly impatient, Mr Calderón has demanded that the authorities recognise his victory and promised a government of national reconciliation.

But Mr López Obrador said he would "employ whatever legal means necessary" in an attempt to annul or reverse the results of the preliminary count, threatening to draw out the dispute for days, weeks or even months.

He claimed his party had identified widespread "manipulation" though he steered clear of the highly charged word "fraud".

"We have a commitment to the citizens to defend the will of millions of Mexicans," he told supporters at his campaign headquarters.

If Mr López Obrador does file complaints with the electoral tribunal, the court will have until August 31 to rule. Fears that the bitter row over Sunday's poll will degenerate into full-scale political chaos have receded as the impression grows that Mr Calderón has indeed won the count.

There is also little indication, as yet, that Mr López Obrador is planning to call his supporters on to the streets to push his claim to be the real victor.

The continued confusion and latent tension nevertheless still poses a test for the country's young democracy, born just six years ago with elections that ended 71 years of one-party rule. The ancien regime was famed for its electoral dirty tricks.