JURIST - Paper Chase: Mexico presidential challenger calls for new constitution

[JURIST] Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador [campaign website, in Spanish; Wikipedia profile], Mexico's leftist presidential candidate challenging the results of the disputed July 2nd presidential election [JURIST news archive], has told supporters that he plans to organize a constitutional convention to draft a new constitution. Lopez Obrador said Sunday that the country was in need of "radical transformation" and that he would call an assembly to draft a replacement for the current constitution [text], which was written in 1917.

Preliminary results show that Lopez Obrador lost the election [JURIST report] by about 240,000 votes, or less than 0.6 percent. An official winner has not yet been declared; Mexico's Federal Electoral Tribunal [official website, in Spanish] has until September 6 to make an official announcement and the court's decision is expected Tuesday [AP report]. It is widely believed that Lopez Obrador's opponent Felipe Calderon [campaign website, in Spanish; Wikipedia profile] will be declared the official winner, and Lopez Obrador has said that he will refuse to recognize Calderon's victory, instead declaring himself the alternative president. AP has more.

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