Mexican Presidential candidate Felipe Calderon declared winner

It’s been reported as if it were the US 2000 elections, but the Mexican Presidential contest appears to be finally decided: Felipe Calderon has been declared the winner:

Ruling party candidate Felipe Calderon built an insurmountable lead in Mexico’s presidential vote count Thursday, but his leftist rival vowed to challenge the results in court.

With 99.92 percent of the vote counted, Felipe Calderon would win even if all the remaining votes went to Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party. He had 35.87 percent of the vote, compared with 35.32 percent for Lopez Obrador. Roughly 220,000 votes separated them.

Roberto Madrazo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party had 22.27 percent and two minor party candidates split the rest of the vote.

And you thought a 51-49% split was contentious. A support level of 36% can’t be called a majority by a longshot. If the Mexicans have had the misfortune of importing the US-brand of leftist, there’s going to be unceasing rhetoric about how the election is invalid because more people didn’t vote for the winner than did and blah, blah, blah.

Buena suerte, amigos.