State of the Nation Speech

There has been a lot of controversy around the recent Presidnetial election in Mexico because of the narrow vote margin between the two front-runners. Felipe Calderón is the conservative candidate and part of current President Vicente Fox's National Action Party (PAN). Andrés Manuel López Obrador, former mayor of Mexico City and indigenous rights activist, is the progressive candidate in this election who receives much of his support from the poor.

Calderón is the leader of the election (for now) with 35.9% of the votes and not too far behind was López Obrador with 35.3% (about a 200,000 vote difference.)

In the past week and a half, López Obrador has been causing a big stink in the city, vowing to prevent Calderón from taking power. He has shut down major avenues to protest the election--demanding a recount. He claims he was the victim of fraud and is challenging the results on the streets and before Mexico's top electoral court.

Last night was President Vicente Fox's state of the nation speech to Congress. Many people suspected López Obrador to start a violent revolt if the government tried to shut him down. In the city, kids were let out of school by noon and people left work early to get home just incase something did happen.

The 15 to 20 minutes it takes me to get home from work turned into close to an hour...
Good news...nothing really terrible happend...it was just a little indigestion by the city.

Mexico's electoral court has to name a new president by September 6. Most expect the court to rule in favor of Calderón.