Calderon declared president-elect

Conservative ruling party candidate Felipe Calderon won Mexico's July 2 election and is president-elect, a top court said yesterday after a long fight over fraud claims that has plunged the country into crisis.

Seven judges at Mexico's top electoral court ruled unanimously that pro-business Calderon won by a razor-thin margin of about 234,000 votes out of some 41 million cast.

The judges, whose decision cannot be appealed, had already thrown out leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's claims of massive fraud.

Mr Calderon's victory is good news for the United States as he will be a key ally in Latin America, where left-wing leaders critical of Washington have taken power in recent years. Mexico, which only introduced full democracy with President Vicente Fox's victory at the last presidential election in 2000, has been gripped by political drama for months.

The court censured Mr Fox yesterday for breaking presidential neutrality and backing Mr Calderon during the bitter election campaign but it ruled that the president's intervention was not serious enough to change the final result on July 2.

The election split the nation of over 100 million along class lines, and leftist protests claiming vote rigging have paralysed the centre of Mexico City.

Mr Lopez Obrador, a fiery speaker who promised to give priority to Mexico's millions of poor, says he will not accept Mr Calderon as president and has vowed to set up a parallel government.