Calderon Wins Mexican Presidential Race

Election officials Bulmaro Ramirez, right, and Enrique Gonzalez, left, hand count votes at a branch of the National Electoral Institute as party observers look on in Mexico City, on Wednesday, July 5, 2006. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano) (Victor R. Caivano - AP)

He reached out to the millions of people who voted against him, asking for a "chance to win your confidence."

For months, Lopez Obrador had been the easy front-runner in the race, promising to govern for the poor and launch big public works projects. But he slipped in the polls after he refused to take part in the first of two televised debates, and never quite recovered.

"It was Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's election to lose, and he lost," said Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington.

On Thursday, the former Mexico City mayor said that widespread fraud _ not campaign missteps _ cost him the election, and he called on his supporters to gather Saturday for an "informational assembly."

"We are always going to act in a responsible manner, but at the same time, we have to defend the citizens' will," he said.

He denounced election officials for going forward with an official count of poll-workers' vote tallies, as required by election law, and ignoring his demand for a ballot-by-ballot review.

"We are going to the Federal Electoral Tribunal with the same demand _ that the votes be counted _ because we cannot accept these results," Lopez Obrador said.

Lopez Obrador supporters who followed the folksy leftist with near religious zeal wept in the streets at news of his loss. A busload of children from a private school jeered at three women bawling uncontrollably as they held up banners.

As Lopez Obrador emerged from his apartment, one woman rushed forward and startled him with a desperate embrace. Taken aback for an instant, the candidate reassured her and kissed her gently on the top of the head. Tears rolled down her cheeks.