Mexico’s presidential elections: both candidates declare victory

Electoral officials said they could not release a preliminary count of votes Sunday night- an eventuality they had promised would happen only if the leading candidates were within one percentage point of each other. The president of the Federal Electoral Institute, said an official count would begin Wednesday, and a winner will be declared once it's complete.

Photo: Mexico’s presidential elections: both candidates declare victory

Leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he would respect the delay, but went on to give a rousing speech about how he will carry out his presidency. "We will defend our victory," he vowed. "I want the Mexican people to know that our figures show we won."

It was unclear whether his supporters would accept anything less. "Fraud! Fraud!" shouted the thousands of Democratic Revolution Party members who had waited for hours in the cold rain in the city's central plaza.

Preliminary results posted by the electoral institute showed that, with 44 percent of polling stations counted, Calderon had 38 percent, Lopez Obrador 36 percent and Roberto Madrazo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party with 19 percent. Those results were tallied at polling stations, and had yet to be certified.

Electoral officials said voting was relatively peaceful, although many complained that polls opened late or ran out of ballots. Luis Carlos Ugalde, president of the Electoral Institute, said only eight of the 130,488 polling stations failed to open - the fewest in Mexico's history.

Exit polls indicated National Action did well in three governors races - Morelos, Guanajuato and Jalisco - while Marcelo Ebrard of Lopez Obrador's party easily won the Mexico City mayor's post.

As for Congress - key to determining whether the next president will be able to push through reforms - none of the parties received a majority. Two exit polls, both with a 1.5 percent margin of error, gave National Action 35 percent, Democratic Revolution 31 percent and the PRI 28 percent of the lower house of Congress.

flooding from a powerful hail storm the night before. Juana Velasquez, a 63-year-old storyteller, and other residents had to spend the morning bailing water from their homes, the AP reports.

Mexican law limits presidents to one term, and provides for an unusually long handover of power. Fox will remain in office until December, then retire to his ranch.

All three candidates promised to strengthen relations with the United States while opposing increased border security measures unpopular in Mexico.

The estimated 11 million Mexicans living in the United States were allowed to vote from abroad for the first time, but the 32,632 ballots they cast weren't likely to make much of a difference.