MEXICO CITY, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Mexico's Supreme Electoral Tribunal on Friday formally declared the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate Enrique Pena Nieto as the nation's president-elect from December 2012 to November 2018.
President of Mexico's Electoral Tribunal Alejandro Luna Ramos said "In my humble opinion, it is now time to declare the election valid the presidential election of the United Mexican States and declare Enrique Pena Nieto president elect.
"The judges consider that the arguments presented by the Progressive Movement coalition seeking the nullification of the election were in general vague, imprecise and generic," the court said.
Ramos, the court's chief justice, said in a broadcast session, "With this, our society has shown decisive action in favor of consolidating its democratic project," adding that the tribunal should issue a "Majority Certificate" for Pena Nieto, as the new Mexican President-elect.
Nieto won presidential election on July 1, returning his party to power after a 12-year hiatus. The opposition coalition Progressive Movement, however, claimed fraud and demanded a full recount.
The court also released the full count of the presidential part of the July 1 election, which showed that Nieto's Commitment to Mexico coalition won 19.1 million presidential votes, compared with 15.8 million for the Progressive Movement's candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador; and 12.7 million for the National Action Party's (PAN's) candidate. There were more null votes than votes for any other candidate.
Earlier on Friday, the court had released a statement saying, " the judges...consider that the arguments presented by the by the Progressive Movement coalition seeking the nullification of the election were in general vague, imprecise and generic."
Ramos had already made a public statement on Thursday attempting to head off any possible arguments over the decision.
"Mexican must understand that this resolution, and the rest of our actions, are only guided by the constitution and the law," he told a press conference.
Obrador's coalition made up of the Revolutionary Democratic Party, Workers Party and Citizens' Movement had called for the cancellation of the election on constitutional grounds. But the judges ruled that "the tribunal can only declare a nullification for the causes expressed in the law, which were not established for July 1's elections."
The court's seven judges unanimously ruled against the following allegations made by the coalition which claimed that Nieto's Institutional Revolution Party (PRI) had made illegal use of voter surveys and broadcast media as election propaganda; and that the party had bought votes directly using supermarket cash cards.
One judge, Salvador Nava Gomar, said that the 10,000 pieces of evidence delivered were imprecise, and that "Mexico has a president chosen by the people and that is Enrique Pena Nieto."
Another judge, Pedro Esteban Penagos, said that the cash cards allegedly used for vote buying had only gone to longstanding PRI members.
Judge Flavio Galvan Rivera said there could still be sanctions, including fines, for some bad behavior during the elections, which would be dealt with by the authorities responsible. Nieto will now take office on Dec. 1 for a six-year term, leading a legislature that is also dominated by the PRI.
At a broadcast press conference, Obrador said that he opposed the tribunal's ruling, claiming that the elections were "neither clean, nor free, nor authentic." His movement will meet at the weekend and decide how to campaign against the government once it sits, but he has already made a public call for civil disobedience.
Obrador was second place candidate in the 2006's presidential elections won by the PAN's Felipe Calderon, who will hand power to Nieto in December. Obrador also made public allegations of fraud following the publication of 2006's result.
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