Mexico to begin partial presidential vote recount

Chris Hawley
Republic Mexico City Bureau
Aug. 7, 2006 12:00 AM

MEXICO CITY - Arizona's southern neighbor, the Mexican state of Sonora, could play a key role this week as officials begin a partial recount of votes in the country's disputed presidential election.

Electoral judges on Saturday ordered recounts in more than a quarter of the polling stations in Sonora at the request of leftist candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In all, 802 of the 3,004 polling stations in the state - an estimated 249,000 ballots - will be recounted.

That's the fourth-highest number of polling stations among the 26 states in which recounts were ordered. The top three states - Jalisco, Baja California and Tamaulipas - all have more residents.

Since the July 2 election, López Obrador has summoned tens of thousands of protesters to Mexico City, where they have shut down the city's central boulevard and held huge rallies in the main square.

López Obrador alleges that massive voter fraud contributed to his crushing losses in northern states like Sonora. In Sonora, 50.12 percent of voters picked conservative Felipe Calderón, while 25.7 percent voted for López Obrador.