deja vu (sort of)

...an extremely close presidential election...

BBC - Monday, 10 July 2006:

Defeated Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has filed a legal challenge to the election result.

He has alleged widespread fraud and asked the electoral tribunal to order a full manual recount of all the ballots.

Conservative candidate Felipe Calderon secured 35.88% of the vote against 35.31% for Mr Lopez Obrador.

The EU said last week its monitors had found no indication of irregularities. A number of international leaders have already congratulated Mr Calderon.

Mr Lopez Obrador's 900-page claim alleges some polling areas had more votes than registered voters and that his opponent overspent on his campaign.

Among his other complaints, he says a computer software programme skewed the initial count of votes.

His spokesman, Ricardo Monreal, said: "We have proof that basic rules were flagrantly violated."

...leads to accusations of fraud...

BBC - Wednesday, 9 August 2006:

Official results from the 2 July election showed that Mr Lopez Obrador lost to Mr Calderon by less than 0.6 of a percentage point - or about 240,000 votes out of a total electorate of 41 million.

...and a five-to-four unanimous decision by the highest court ends the limited recount...

BBC - Tuesday, 29 August 2006:

Mr Lopez Obrador's campaign had filed complaints at around 50,000 polling stations, but the court ordered a recount at just 11,839 of them - about 9% of the national total.

The seven judges decided there was no massive fraud and Mr Calderon had attracted a majority of votes.

...and the supporters of the losing candidate throw up their hands in disgust, shrug their shoulders and go home ... ummm, bumrush Congress?

BBC - Saturday, 2 September 2006:

Left-wing deputies in Mexico have taken over the stage in Congress, forcing outgoing President Vicente Fox to abandon his final annual address.

[...]

Just before the president was due to arrive, dozens of lawmakers stormed the stage, bearing placards and shouting "Vote by vote!" - the slogan used by Mr Lopez Obrador in demands for a full recount of votes cast in the 2 July poll.

Minutes later Mr Fox arrived and - dressed in his presidential sash - waited in the wings of the congressional stage, at one point stepping forward as if about to try to begin speaking.

But despite appeals from Congress officials, the opposition lawmakers would not be moved and eventually Mr Fox handed his written speech in to officials and was driven away.

He is instead due to deliver his address on television from the presidential palace, as had been decided in contingency plans made amid fears of disruption.

why didn't we think of that?