Ruling party conservative Felipe Calderon has finally won Mexico's presidency, ending a two-month legal battle over fraud claims after a July election plunged the nation into a crisis.
Felipe Calderon holds a flag given to him by Mexican World War veterans during celebrations at his National Action Party headquarters in Mexico City yesterday
Seven judges at Mexico's top electoral court unanimously ruled that the vote was not rigged and that pro-business candidate Mr Calderon (44) had won by a razor-thin margin of about 234,000 votes out of 41 million cast.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
But the losing left-wing candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador rejected the decision and vowed he will never accept Mr Calderon as president.
"I will not recognise anyone who parades himself as the head of the federal government without any legitimate or democratic credentials," he told supporters in Mexico City's central Zocalo square last night.
His street protests could stretch on for months.
The election split the nation of over 100 million people along class lines, and protests by Mr Lopez Obrador supporters claiming fraud have paralysed the centre of Mexico City.
A top adviser said Mr Calderon was aware he had to heal divisions. "Felipe Calderon is now president. The challenge of reconciliation awaits him," said Josefina Vazquez Mota.
Mr Calderon's victory is good news for the United States as he will be a key ally in Latin America, where leftist presidents critical of Washington have taken power in recent years.
The White House congratulated Mr Calderon, applauded the court's decision and said the election was "free and fair."
Mr Calderon received another boost when the Convergencia party, part of the coalition that backed Lopez Obrador's presidential bid, said it accepted the court's ruling.
Mexico only introduced full democracy with President Vicente Fox's victory at the last presidential election in 2000.
Mr Calderon will have to work hard to dampen leftist anger and also win support in Congress for economic reforms.
The judges, whose decision cannot be appealed, had already thrown out claims by Mr Lopez Obrador of massive vote rigging.
They censured Mr Fox for breaking presidential neutrality and backing Mr Calderon during the bitter election campaign, but ruled that his intervention was not serious enough to change the final result of the July 2nd vote.