Defeated Mexican Candidate Launches Parallel Government

(Mexico, City) Rather than accept defeat in the national election, a politician may create a pretend presidency and a parallel government.

From El Paso Times:

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador launched a parallel government Monday and prepared to swear himself in as Mexico's "legitimate" president, a ceremony the leftist hopes will keep alive protests to undermine the man who officials say defeated him at the polls.

The inauguration ceremony is the latest chapter in Lopez Obrador's unsuccessful battle for the presidency. He claims fraud and dirty campaign tactics were responsible for President-elect Felipe Calderon's narrow victory in the July 2 vote, and his parallel government could spend the next six years calling for street protests that have already dented the economy and prompted travel warnings from the U.S. Embassy.

While the red-green-and-white presidential sash to be draped across Lopez Obrador's shoulders Monday will lack legal recognition, he hopes to assume the moral leadership of millions of poor Mexicans.

Whether the millions of poor Mexicans follow Obrador is important for his goals but less so than having the Mexican Army and police follow him. Obrador has already stated that violence is in the toolbox.

"Nobody wants violence in our country, but there are people who give grounds for violence," Lopez Obrador said last week. "There are a lot of people who say that, after July 2, the path of electoral politics in no longer viable."

Heh. Just think, if Obrador is successful, the U.S. may soon share an imaginary border with a banana republic run by a socialist thug who likely has Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega on speed-dial.

Just lovely.