Calderon squeaks through in Mexico

Has the rightist, Fox-backed Calderon finally defeated the leftist, Chavez-backed Lopez Obrador in Mexico's presidential election? It looks like it, however narrow the result. Here's the L.A. Times:

Conservative Felipe Calderon won Mexico's presidential election by less than a percentage point today, defeating leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador after more than three days of vote counting and recounting.

But:

Lopez Obrador immediately denounced irregularities in the vote count and said he would launch a "peaceful and legal" effort to overturn Calderon's victory before Mexico's Federal Electoral Tribunal — and in the court of public opinion.

Just how close was it?

With all 41 million votes cast in Sunday's presidential election counted, Calderon defeated Lopez Obrador by about 230,000 votes, or 0.57 percentage points.

In other words, it may not be over quite yet. (Although Calderon's victory looks more and more certain.)

For more, let me refer you to election expert Matthew Shugart of the University of California at San Diego. He knows a lot more about Mexican politics, and this election, than I. His latest post, on this latest news of Calderon's victory, is here. His collected posts on Mexico can be found here. I recommend them highly.