Calderon expected to win Mexico presidency

By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press Writer 22 minutes ago

Conservative presidential candidate Felipe Calderon was expected to be named the winner of July's hotly contested election Tuesday when Mexico's top electoral court convenes to issue its final ruling on whether the vote count was valid.

Most of the court's rulings so far have favored Calderon, who has a 240,000-vote advantage over his leftist opponent, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in the official tally. The Federal Electoral Tribunal could still decide to annul the election, but there are no signs they plan to do so.

The court's decision is final and cannot be appealed.

Both sides appeared to agree that the judges would confirm a Calderon victory.

"We are very calm, very sure," Juan Camilo Mourino, who heads Calderon's transition team, said Monday. "Tomorrow, Felipe Calderon will be president-elect."

Lopez Obrador, who claims the vote was fraudulent, barely mentioned the impending decision Monday during his nightly address to followers in Mexico City's historic central plaza, the Zocalo. Instead, he focused on his plans to set up an alternate government.