Mexico’s electoral tribunal officially named centrist Enrique Peña Nieto as president-elect yesterday, ending a drawn-out dispute over the results of the July election.
The 46-year-old former State of Mexico governor will be sworn in on December 1st and return the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to power after 12 years in opposition.
The electoral tribunal on Thursday threw out a bid by leftist runner-up Andrés Manuel López Obrador to annul the vote result after he accused the PRI of vote buying and money laundering.
The declaration clears the way for Mr Peña Nieto to forge deals in Congress over economic reforms needed to revitalise growth in Latin America’s second-largest economy.
Mr López Obrador refused to accept his defeat and held out the possibility of further protests, calling for a rally in Mexico City’s main square on September 9th. “Then we will determine what happens next,” he said.
– (Reuters)