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GUEST: Chuck Collins, Senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, living in Oaxaca, Mexico

US media are reporting that the ruling National Action Party candidate, Felipe Calderon, has been declared the winner in Mexico’s disputed presidential election race of last week. The official vote count was 35.88 percent for Calderon and 35.31 percent for his rival, the PRD’s Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. But Obrador is blaming fraud for his narrow loss, saying he’ll fight the results in court. There have been numerous testimonies of election fraud throughout the country, including allegations of using voter registration data to aid the Calderon campaign. Yesterday, Obrador’s lawyers turned into court, more than 800 pages of documented irregularities. The legal challenge came a day after 250,000 people rallied in Mexico City’s central square calling for a recount. Among other things, Obrador had promised to “renegotiate” those provisions of NAFTA that would eliminate tariffs on the imports of American corn and beans in 2008.