Rival looks to rule from streets
By Mark Stevenson
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MEXICO CITY — Andrés Manuel López Obrador, convinced he won't be awarded the presidency, has vowed to create a parallel leftist government and is urging Mexicans not to recognize the apparent victory of the ruling party's Felipe Calderón.
While his party lacks the seats in Congress to block legislation, López Obrador can mobilize millions to pressure his conservative rival to adopt the left's agenda — or to clamp down and risk a backlash.
Both scenarios are possibilities as the former Mexico City mayor lays out plans to create his own government to rule from the streets, with the support of thousands who are already camped out throughout downtown Mexico City. Some predict his parallel initiative could turn those protest camps into the core of a violent revolt, especially if the government tries to shut it down.
Such violence broke out in the southern city of Oaxaca after Gov. Ulises Ruiz sent police to evict striking teachers. Outraged citizens' groups joined the protests, setting fire to buildings and public buses, seizing radio and TV stations and closing businesses.
Some supporters took out a newspaper ad Tuesday, calling on López Obrador to set up his own treasury department and said all Mexicans "should channel federal revenues to the new treasury department."
López Obrador is encouraging his followers to disobey Calderón, whose 240,000-vote advantage was confirmed Monday by the country's top electoral court. The seven magistrates stopped short of declaring Calderón president-elect, but they have only a week to declare a winner or annul the July 2 election.
López Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, increased its number of congressional seats and became the second-largest bloc, behind Calderón's National Action Party, on Tuesday as new lawmakers were sworn in.
But it holds only a quarter of the seats — not enough to block legislation, especially if Calderón forges a likely alliance with the former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party. That alliance would hold a majority in each house of Congress.
López Obrador has ruled out negotiations with what he calls the "spurious" and "imposed" government. Because PRD legislators fear crossing him or his fervent followers, they can't cut deals to get their own legislation approved.
López Obrador's plan is to have his government help the poor, oppose privatizations and make the news media — which he has accused of ignoring him — more "truthful and objective."
It's not clear how he plans to do that, but his supporters are already planning an alternative swearing-in ceremony Dec. 1.
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