by Our Foreign Desk
Fifty thousand protesters marched through Mexico City on Saturday to
denounce Enrique Pena Nieto's victory in the July 1 presidential
election.
The demonstrators accused Mr Pena Nieto's Insitutional Revolutionary
Party (PRI) of having "bought" votes by handing out millions of bags of
groceries, pre-paid gift cards and other goods.
Students and trade unionists carried banners reading: "Pena, how much
did it cost you to become president?" and "Mexico, you pawned your
future for 500 pesos (£25)."
Marchers held signs in English, Japanese, French, German and even
Finnish as well as Spanish in a bid to grab the attention of the
international press.
Critics of the PRI raised accusations of vote-buying in June, but the
issue gained momentum when supermarkets in the capital were flooded with
shoppers seeking to redeem pre-paid gift cards in the couple of days
following the presidential election.
Many said they had been given the cards by PRI supporters - though the
PRI in turn has accused left-wing candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
of dressing his supporters in PRI outfits and handing out the cards,
then staging the run on the shops.
A final verification of the vote, which saw Mr Pena Nieto beat Mr Lopez
Obrador by 38 to 32 per cent, will take place in September.
The Federal Election Institute has pledged to investigate the gift-card
claims, but the overturning of the result is unlikely as political
parties are free to give out gifts before elections provided that they
do not explicitly seek to influence votes with them.
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Source: Morning Star Online
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