Leftist candidate takes 'oath'

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the leftist candidate who claims to have been cheated out of victory in July's presidential election in Mexico, took an "oath of office" yesterday as the "legitimate president" in an elaborate ritual his many detractors ridiculed as a farce.

The ceremony in Mexico City came less than two weeks before the inauguration of the man who won the election, conservative Felipe Calderon. As many as 100,000 people attended yesterday's event, in which Lopez Obrador, the 52-year-old former mayor of Mexico City, also swore in a six-man, six-woman shadow cabinet.

"It is an honor to be the legitimate president of Mexico and above all the leader of free men and women like you," Lopez Obrador told the crowd after leftist senator and human-rights activist Rosario Ibarra de Piedra placed a "presidential sash" over his shoulder.

Lopez Obrador has styled himself as the defender of this nation's impoverished majority. His self-coronation wasn't the first time a losing candidate had proclaimed himself Mexico's "legitimate president" (three did so from 1910-1940), and it might not auger well for the country's future political stability.

"He is not doing this to make sure that Calderon governs in the name of the poor; he's trying to make sure that Calderon can't govern at all," said Denise Dresser, a political analyst, of Lopez Obrador's decision to create a parallel government. "He is leading many Mexicans to believe that change in this country cannot occur through peaceful means."

On Sept. 5, after weeks of partial recounts and legal pleadings alleging fraud, Mexico's highest electoral court proclaimed Calderon the winner of the presidential race by 234,000 votes, or 0.56 percentage points.

The newspaper Reforma published a poll that found 2 in 3 Mexicans believe Lopez Obrador has "little or no" credibility. But 1 in 5 respondents felt he was right to proclaim himself president.

Lopez Obrador urged his followers not to recognize Calderon's government. "We are congregated here, because in the face of the electoral fraud of July 2, we have decided to abolish the regime of corruption and privilege," he said.

By HECTOR TOBAR

Los Angeles Times