Mexico's Election May Rest on 7 Votes

"Where are our votes -- in the garbage?" says one of the banners demanding that the Federal Electoral Tribunal overturn Felipe Calderon's narrow victory in the July 2 vote and certify Lopez Obrador as president-elect.

It has been 10 years since the current tribunal was created to police an electoral system long plagued by blatant fraud. In that time, the tribunal has nullified 17 local, state and congressional elections and ruled against each of Mexico's three major parties in roughly equal proportions.

But the judicial arbiter of Mexico's young democracy has never faced a challenge like this.

With tens of thousands of protesters backing him in the streets, Lopez Obrador, of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, is asking the tribunal for two rulings that would stretch legal precedent.

Publicly, he is calling for a recount of all 41 million votes, in the hope of erasing his 244,000-vote deficit.

The motion his lawyers filed this week also seeks a ruling that President Vicente Fox's government tilted the playing field for Calderon, the candidate of Fox's conservative National Action Party, or PAN.

A favorable ruling on that motion would open the election to annulment and force a new one.

Calderon's legal team is contesting both motions. By law, the tribunal, which is scheduled to begin hearing the case next week, must resolve the motions by Aug. 31 and declare a winner by Sept. 6.

The decision, and whether it is accepted by both parties, will be a crucial test of whether Mexico can resolve disputes in a peaceful, legal manner rather than through the street demonstrations and backroom deals that settled close elections in the early 1990s.

At stake, too, is the prestige of this country's most trusted public institution after the army. In a country struggling to establish rule of law, the tribunal's authority stands out: The losers have always respected its decisions.

The tribunal was insulated from pressure when established in 1996. The 65 nominees vetted by the Supreme Court had to be free of political affiliation. The three big parties negotiated that list to seven -- five career judges and two legal scholars -- for election by a unanimous Congress.