Americas News
Mexican tribunal set to announce final election results
By DPA
Sep 4, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Mexico City - Mexico's electoral tribunal is set to announce on Tuesday the final results of the country's controversial presidential elections, though it is unlikely to assuage supporters of the presumed loser.

Mexico's Federal Electoral Tribunal of the Judiciary (TEFPJ) said in a statement Monday that it will hold a public session Tuesday to announce the final vote tally.

Leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador claims he was robbed of victory in the July 2 election after official counts showed him losing to conservative Felipe Calderon by just 0.58 percentage points.

Lopez Obrador has threatened to start an alternative government if the results don't go his way, and has led street rallies in the capital for weeks to protest what he alleges was a fraudulent victory by his opponent.

According to Mexican legislation, the tribunal must review all complaints filed on the election and has until September 6 to announce its final verdict. The seven-member court is set to make its decision public one day before the final deadline.

The tribunal has evaluated a total of 375 complaints and 11,839 ballot boxes have been recounted, but Lopez Obrador and his supporters continue to demand a complete recount of all votes.

Calderon's National Action Party (PAN) insists the vote was legitimate. President Vicente Fox, who is also a member of that party, has said he believes Calderon is the race's legitimate winner.

Lopez Obrador, the former mayor of Mexico City, has said he plans to lead a large rally on September 16, in order to designate an alternative 'government of the people for the people.'

The leftist candidate's Party of Democratic Revolution (PRD) occupied the speaker's podium in the Mexican Congress on Friday to prevent Fox, whose six-year term ends December 1, from delivering his final state-of-the-nation speech.

Fox instead submitted his speech in writing. It was the first time a Mexican president has failed to deliver a state-of-the-nation address in person.

In the written text of his speech, Fox made plain that he rejects the left's accusations that he helped Calderon win an illicit victory. Mexicans voted in 'complete freedom' on July 2, Fox said.

Last Monday, the Electoral Tribunal said the partial recount turned up no evidence of irregularities, a setback for Lopez Obrador's push for a vote-by-vote recount. dpa ke vs aw ccxnc031 aa iq ecs tra 000

US-Terrorism/ Prosecution of terror suspects returns to pre-9/11 level: report =

Washington (dpa) - The year after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks saw a surge in the prosecution of those named international terrorists by the US government, but that number has dropped significantly since, according to a new study.

The number of prosecutions of suspected terrorists in the US has fallen to roughly the same level as prior to the attacks, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University in New York found in an analysis of federal records, released Sunday night.

In 2002 there were 355 prosecutions, but in 2005 just 46 people who the government identified as potential terrorists were prosecuted by the US Department of Justice. In 2001, 57 people faced prosecution.

Federal prosecutors have also turned down nearly two-thirds of terrorism cases brought by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other agencies since 2001, the report found. In the first eight months of the 2006 fiscal year, Department of Justice attorneys declined to pursue nine out of 10 cases referred to them by other agencies.

'Given the widely accepted belief that the threat of terrorism in all parts of the world is much larger today than it was six or seven years ago, the extent of the recent decline in prosecutions is unexpected,' the report says.

Federal records show that 39 per cent of those cases were turned down because attorneys thought there was not enough evidence against the suspects, the report says.

Since September 11, 2001, 6,472 individuals were referred to the department as terrorists, but only 1,329 of those were convicted. Of those, even fewer received substantial prison terms, the report says.

Fourteen received sentences of 20 years or more, 67 received sentences of five years or more, 327 received sentences of one day to less than a year, and 704 received no prison time at all. dpa aw ccxnc031 aa iq ecs tra 000

US-Terrorism/ Prosecution of terror suspects returns to pre-9/11 level: report =

Washington (dpa) - The year after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks saw a surge in the prosecution of those named international terrorists by the US government, but that number has dropped significantly since, according to a new study.

The number of prosecutions of suspected terrorists in the US has fallen to roughly the same level as prior to the attacks, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University in New York found in an analysis of federal records, released Sunday night.

In 2002 there were 355 prosecutions, but in 2005 just 46 people who the government identified as potential terrorists were prosecuted by the US Department of Justice. In 2001, 57 people faced prosecution.

Federal prosecutors have also turned down nearly two-thirds of terrorism cases brought by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other agencies since 2001, the report found. In the first eight months of the 2006 fiscal year, Department of Justice attorneys declined to pursue nine out of 10 cases referred to them by other agencies.

'Given the widely accepted belief that the threat of terrorism in all parts of the world is much larger today than it was six or seven years ago, the extent of the recent decline in prosecutions is unexpected,' the report says.

Federal records show that 39 per cent of those cases were turned down because attorneys thought there was not enough evidence against the suspects, the report says.

Since September 11, 2001, 6,472 individuals were referred to the department as terrorists, but only 1,329 of those were convicted. Of those, even fewer received substantial prison terms, the report says.

Fourteen received sentences of 20 years or more, 67 received sentences of five years or more, 327 received sentences of one day to less than a year, and 704 received no prison time at all. dpa aw ccxnc031 aa iq ecs tra 000

US-Terrorism/ Prosecution of terror suspects returns to pre-9/11 level: report =

Washington (dpa) - The year after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks saw a surge in the prosecution of those named international terrorists by the US government, but that number has dropped significantly since, according to a new study.

The number of prosecutions of suspected terrorists in the US has fallen to roughly the same level as prior to the attacks, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University in New York found in an analysis of federal records, released Sunday night.

In 2002 there were 355 prosecutions, but in 2005 just 46 people who the government identified as potential terrorists were prosecuted by the US Department of Justice. In 2001, 57 people faced prosecution.

Federal prosecutors have also turned down nearly two-thirds of terrorism cases brought by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other agencies since 2001, the report found. In the first eight months of the 2006 fiscal year, Department of Justice attorneys declined to pursue nine out of 10 cases referred to them by other agencies.

'Given the widely accepted belief that the threat of terrorism in all parts of the world is much larger today than it was six or seven years ago, the extent of the recent decline in prosecutions is unexpected,' the report says.

Federal records show that 39 per cent of those cases were turned down because attorneys thought there was not enough evidence against the suspects, the report says.

Since September 11, 2001, 6,472 individuals were referred to the department as terrorists, but only 1,329 of those were convicted. Of those, even fewer received substantial prison terms, the report says.

Fourteen received sentences of 20 years or more, 67 received sentences of five years or more, 327 received sentences of one day to less than a year, and 704 received no prison time at all.