Mexican president faces chaos in final months in office

By Julie Watson
ASSOCIATED PRESS

MEXICO CITY – A day after protesting leftist lawmakers forced President Vicente Fox to abandon his state-of-the-nation speech, many Mexicans were concerned Saturday that the electoral dispute was spiraling out of control and threatening the stability of their still-fragile democracy.

The bold move has set the stage for an escalating battle between a president resistant to intervene in the growing national political crisis and leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador who has thumbed his nose at the country's democratic institutions and vowed to govern Mexico from the streets.

It also raises the question of how effective Fox's successor, ruling-party candidate Felipe Calderon, will be after his administration has tolerated supporters of Lopez Obrador taking over the capital and preventing keeping the president from speaking to lawmakers. The new president takes office Dec. 1.