Mexican President Calderon Says Vote-Buying 'Unacceptable'

Mexican President Calderon says vote-buying 'unacceptable' < br />

2012-07-10 22:35:24 GMT+7 (ICT)

MEXICO CITY (BNO NEWS) -- Outgoing Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday stated that vote-buying, which reportedly occurred in the recent presidential election, is 'unacceptable' and called for a thorough investigation to find those responsible.

"The buying and selling of political support, be it ten or a hundred or a thousand, it is simply unacceptable, and I call on the electoral authority to immediately rectify and punish if punishment is needed," Calderon said.

Controversial allegations have been made public against President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), accusing them of distributing supermarket gift cards in exchange for votes. But Calderon said these incidents might not be sufficient to disqualify the presidential election, which were held on July 1.

The outgoing president added that vote-buying probably occurs among all political parties and questioned the effects these incidents have on the electoral process. "I think it is a bad habit within our democratic condition which has to be corrected immediately," he said.

Meanwhile, leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador underlined that the results given by Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) could not be accepted, claiming that roughly 5 million votes were bought. He added that the "situation is very delicate and we cannot precipitate. We will act with responsibility and seriousness and we will wait."

Lopez Obrador added that his party is still collecting information regarding the vote-buying, and their findings will be presented on Thursday in order to figure out what type of legal process they will enter.

On Sunday, protesters took to the streets in at least nine different states across Mexico to rally against Peña Nieto and what they called an 'imposition' of a president. The protests across the country have mostly focused against electoral-fraud in general and not in favor of any political party in particular.

Among other alleged irregularities in the electoral process are media bias, with Mexico's largest TV stations and newspapers favoring Peña Nieto's presidential campaign by manipulating polls and deceiving viewers, as well as irregularities in ballot stations and threats.

The presumed victory of Peña Nieto brings the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) back to power after governing Mexico for 71 years during the 20th century until 2000, when the conservative National Action Party (PAN) took control for two consecutive terms.

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