Mexico's Calderon wins presidency, rival fights on

MEXICO CITY, Sep 6 (Reuters) Ruling party conservative Felipe Calderon won Mexico's presidency, ending a long legal battle over vote fraud claims, but his leftist rival vowed to fight on in the streets.

Seven judges at Mexico's top electoral court unanimously ruled that the July 2 vote was fair and pro-business candidate Calderon won by about 234,000 votes out of 41 million cast.

Leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador rejected the decision and said he would never accept Calderon as president.

''I will not recognize 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.

Lopez Obrador plans to set up a parallel government and block Calderon's attempts to run the country. His followers wept openly after yesterday's ruling and angrily accused the judges of selling out to Mexico's rich elite.

The election split the nation of over 100 million along class lines. Leftists have since paralyzed central Mexico City. In an attempt to heal wounds, Calderon, 44, promised to give priority to Mexico's millions of poor after he takes office on December. 1.

''The election is over. Now is the time for unity and agreements,'' he told supporters. ''Only united can we defeat the real enemies: poverty, crime, unemployment and inequality.'' Calderon's victory provides the United States with a key ally in Latin America, where leftist presidents critical of Washington have taken power in recent years.

The White House congratulated Calderon, applauded the court's decision and said the election was ''free and fair.'' ANGER Mexico only introduced full democracy with President Vicente Fox's victory at the last presidential election in 2000. 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 Lopez Obrador of massive fraud.

They censured Fox on Tuesday for breaking presidential neutrality and backing Calderon during the bitter campaign, but ruled that his intervention was not serious enough to change the final result of the July 2 vote.

Protesters burned a poster of the president's face in the Zocalo square and chanted, ''Death To Fox.'' Opinion polls show around 30 percent of Mexicans believe the election was rigged.

''We don't want him, we are going to overthrow him,'' said Belen, 67, a mother of 11 from western Mexico who clung to the railings outside the court.

But many Mexicans were relieved at the court's decision and hoped it would help end protests.

''Now we can sleep easy. Mexico doesn't need a modern Robin Hood, like Lopez Obrador was trying to be,'' said Josefina del Castillo, sipping coffee at a posh Mexico City cafe.

Lopez Obrador has become steadily more radical as the post-election fight has dragged on. He now accuses judges, electoral authorities, media and big business of forming a powerful front against him.

Leftists set off fireworks outside the court building in protest yesterday and screamed ''Fraud! Fraud! Fraud!''.

Calderon plans to cut deals with centrist opposition parties to push pro-business tax, labor and energy reforms through Congress, where his National Action Party is the biggest party but remains well short of a majority.

He hopes to win support from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico for 71 years until 2000 but was pushed into third place in the July elections.

REUTERS DH PM0738