MSG073G/01E MEXICO: Parliament Ratifies Zedillo's Electoral Victory

MEXICO CITY, Nov 09 (IPS) - The Mexican Parliament ratified the election of Ernesto Zedillo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)in power since 1929early Wednesday morning. Zedillo will replace current President Carlos Salinas on Dec. 1.

After a 16-hour marathon debate, the parliamentary endorsement of the Aug. 21 elections passed with 300 PRI votes, two from the Workers' Party (PT) and one from a dissident member of the centre-left Revolutionary Democracy Party (PRD).

Sixty six PRD members voted against the ratification, while 120 deputies abstained - four from the PT and the rest from the right-wing National Action Party (PAN).

The gruelling debate included 99 speakers. The PRD systematically denounced the electoral process, calling for new elections and the appointment of an interim president.

Opposition allegations included tampering with the electoral register and voter credentials, abuse of the mass media, the use of public funds to support the ruling party, buying votes, falsification of results and other irregularites.

Apart from several heated verbal exchanges, the debate was held without major incident, though the official confirmation of Zedillo as Mexico's 62nd President-elect took part without the PAN and PRD deputies, who walked out in silence.

The last time an election was ratified by Parliament, six years ago, opposition deputies left shouting and yelling slogans.

This year, they seemed to have reached a tacit agreement that, while the government was definitely guilty of electoral fraud, the PRI had, nonetheless, recieved the majority of the votes.

Government representatives claimed that the accusations were made only to cover up the opposition's electoral defeat, although they accepted that, "in a democratic sense, it would be possible and necessary to improve the Mexican electoral processes."

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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