Wednesday, July 05, 2006
More specific allegations of election improprieties.
Ballots in the trashcan, just like in Haiti. Photo from La Jornada (added 1:17 AM Eastern)
Hall and Root report that
1. 3.5 million additional votes were discovered not to have been counted" tally sheets representing the millions of uncounted votes were set aside on election night because of various "inconsistencies," such as indecipherable markings on the voting booth records.
2. At least one outside election observer was less than impressed with procedures: A McClatchy photographer working in the troubled southern state of Oaxaca witnessed discrepancies between the vote tallies posted outside voting stations in the town of Tlalcolula and the data appearing on the IFE's Web site. The photographer also found examples of the presidential vote not counted.
3. PRD officials are also hinting that Calderon may have a conflict of interest in the election agency itself, saying that could explain why computerized returns showed both candidates actually shedding votes in the wee hours of election night. Like, for example, top election official overseeing election-reporting software, Rodrigo Morales, is an old friend of Calderon and Calderon's brother in law may have had a hand in creating the software (he says he lost the bid, but in the world of software, that doesn't mean he didn't get the subcontract).
Update: Via Avedon, I discover the Mexican version of BBV and that The Econonist endorsed Mexico's left-winger. Also that the right winger's nickname is FeCal.
Obrador's lead continues to dwindle, down from 2% with 80% of the votes counted to about 1.3% with 88.8% counted. That sounds like not such a big shift, but in fact, it means that the votes after 80% were coming in heavily for Calderon.
Meaning that no one will believe a Calderon win.
(Image from Reforma
Update, 11PM Central time: Just like in Florida 2000, it looks to me as if they waited until people are going to bed to pull the switch. At 91.56%, Obrador's margin is down to 1.08 and dropping fast. At 93.10% counted, Obrador's margin is 0.88. By the way, at 7PM, the vote screen went blank, showing zero for all candidates.
Except as noted, from La Jornada, look how the slow count began at 8PM. From 12-7 PM, ballots were counted at the rate of 7.8% per hour. The next hours showed very roughly 4%, 2.5%, 4%, 2%, and 1.5%.
23:51 93.2 % AMLO +0.81
23:09 91.86% AMLO +1.04%
23:04 91.56% AMLO +1.08%
22:57 91.21% AMLO +1.13%
22:45 90.74% AMLO +1.18%
22:36 90.07% AMLO +1.24%
22:13 89.36% AMLO +1.28%
21:47 88.40% AMLO +1.37% .
21:28 87.05% AMLO +1.59%
20:56 85.34% AMLO +1.72%
20:32 84.13%, AMLO +1.78%
20:00 82.72% AMLO +1.86%
19:41 80.12% AMLO +2.02%
19:06 78.57 % AMLO +1.98%
18:49 77.57% AMLO +2.0%
18:27 75.08 % AMLO +2.16%
18:32 73.58 % AMLO +2.28%
18:33 72.12% AMLO +2.32%
18:34 68.17% AMLO +2.21%
15:06 54.92 % AMLO +2.55 %
13:45 35.95 % AMLO +2.71%
12:05 25.38% AMLO +2.59
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