[Mb-civic] Fox clears way for Obrador to run in presidential poll

[Michael Butler]

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Fox clears way for Obrador to run in presidential poll
>By Ronald Buchanan in Mexico City
>Published: April 28 2005 19:08 | Last updated: April 29 2005 00:31
>>

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico City's mayor, on Thursdsay welcomed
President Vicente Fox's move in effect to shelve criminal charges against
him, clearing the way for the mayor to run in next year's presidential
elections.

Under pressure to defuse a growing political crisis, Mr Fox made a
television address to the nation on Wednesday night to announce that he had
accepted the resignation of Rafael Macedo de la Concha, the attorney-general
who had been pursuing the case against Mr López Obrador.

A new attorney-general would review the case ³exhaustively², Mr Fox said.
Most analysts interpreted that to mean any charges against the mayor had
been put on hold indefinitely.

If any doubts remained over a case beset by confusion in recent weeks, they
appeared to be cleared up on Thursday by the presidential spokesman, Rubén
Aguilar. Asked whether the case had been shelved, Mr Aguilar demurred before
saying: ³You could say that it has.²

Mr Fox also said he would present a bill to change the law that would have
barred Mr López Obrador from the presidential race. As in most countries, he
said, Mexico should accept the principle of presumption of innocence in
criminal cases; citizens facing charges should still be able to run for
election.

³My government won't stop anyone from taking part in the forthcoming federal
elections,² Mr Fox said. The president's decision angered the Institutional
Revolutionary party (PRI), the largest political grouping. While the PRI
said it welcomed the opportunity to contest the election with Mr López
Obrador, Roberto Madrazo, the party's leader, said: ³The country is in
chaos, in domestic policy and in foreign policy too.²

Mr Madrazo, an old political adversary of Mr López Obrador, said Mr Fox
should ³concentrate on solving the nation's problems, steer clear of
controversy and keep out of electoral affairs².

The controversy has bolstered Mr López Obrador's lead in opinion polls
gauging next year's election. ³With Fox and Madrazo on the job, López
Obrador shouldn't have to spend a single peso on political consultants to
capture Los Pinos in 2006,² said George Grayson, professor at Virginia's
College of William and Mary, referring to the presidential palace.

The probable turning point in the crisis over the López Obrador case came
last Sunday when hundreds of thousands of people joined a peaceful
demonstration to support the mayor. Opinion polls showed that an
overwhelming majority of Mexicans believed that the charges, which stem from
a relatively minor planning dispute, were politically motivated. Mr López
Obrador was in conciliatory mood yesterday. The president's decision to
accept the attorney-general's resignation would strengthen democracy, he
said.

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