MEXICO CITY, Aug 28, SPA - Mexico's top electoralcourt threw out leftists' allegations of massive fraud in lastmonth's presidential election on Monday, handing almost certainvictory to conservative candidate Felipe Calderon, according to Reuters. The seven judges voted unanimously to reject most of thelegal complaints by left-wing candidate Andres Manuel LopezObrador, who said he was robbed of victory in the July 2 vote. Calderon, a former energy minister from the ruling NationalAction Party, won the election by just 0.58 of a percentagepoint or 244,000 votes, the initial result showed. The judges fell short of formally declaring Calderon thewinner but said there were only marginal changes to theoriginal results after recounts and annulments at some of themost fiercely contested polling stations. "Based on the annulments that were deemed necessary, allthe parties lost a considerable amount of votes but that didnot affect the results," judge Jose Luna said. The Mexican peso firmed 0.77 percent as investors wereconvinced that pro-business Calderon will now take over fromPresident Vicente Fox on Dec. 1. Lopez Obrador says there were serious irregularities atmore than half the polling stations. He has demanded a fullrecount of all 41 million votes cast and has launched streetprotests that have shut down central Mexico City. The court annulled results from scores of polling stationsafter a partial recount earlier this month because ofirregularities but there was no sign of huge fraud, the judgessaid. "We can tell people that today their votes were worthsomething and that they are definitive," said another judge,Fernando Ojesto. The election was the bitterest in Mexico's modern historyand split the country between left and right. "COUP D'ETAT" Lopez Obrador insists he won the election and that a courtruling in favor of Calderon would merely complete the fraud. "It would be an abuse of the people's rights, a rupture ofthe constitutional order and a coup d'etat, which is offensiveto millions of Mexicans," he told supporters on Sunday inMexico City's central Zocalo square, where they have beencamping overnight in a sit-in for almost a month. Calderon, who campaigned on pro-business policies and wouldbe an ally of the United States, says the election was cleanand has called on Lopez Obrador to drop his street protests. He was confident the court would declare him winner. "We are sure that the only thing that will come out ofthese legal challenges is that Felipe Calderon won thepresidency legitimately," said top aide Juan Camilo Mourino. The leftist, who has vowed to overhaul economic policies toput the poor first, insists he will not give up. Some 50supporters marched through the Zocalo with a fake coffin,marked "Democracy" The political crisis is the toughest test of Mexico'sdemocracy since Fox's election victory six years ago endedseven decades of one-party rule. The electoral court already has ruled out a full recountand instead ordered votes counted again at just 9 percent ofthe polling stations. That failed to end the dispute. Calderon said the partial recount showed only minimalchanges in the vote, while Lopez Obrador said it proved manyballot boxes were tampered with. He says almost 200,000 votesdisappeared from some or were discovered in others. The court has until Sept. 6 to formally declare apresident-elect. Its decisions are final and cannot beappealed. If Calderon's victory is confirmed by the court, LopezObrador says he will either lead a civil resistance movementagainst his rival or set up some kind of parallel government.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/385635