Demonstrators protest in front of the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) in Mexico City, on July 5. Mexico's would-be president Enrique Pena Nieto was hoping that conclusive results would confirm his election victory, but his opponent was holding out for a shock reversal.

Definitive results were originally been scheduled to be announced in the morning, but were delayed for unexplained reasons three times, leaving Pena Nieto's challenger, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, waiting for judgment.

But officials at the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) failed to give a new time for the announcement.

Initial results from Sunday's vote showed Pena Nieto, from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) with 38 percent against 31 percent for Lopez Obrador, who heads a leftist coalition led by the Party of the Democratic Revolution.

Just ahead of the announcement Lopez Obrador held a press conference claiming that the PRI engaged in a massive scheme to influence the vote that included distributing 1.8 million gift cards worth "billions of pesos."

"All of this is documented," Lopez Obrador said, saying that his coalition filed complaints with election officials as early as February.

"The authorities did not pay attention to us," he said. "This is not one isolated case ... we're talking about millions of bought votes."

The PRI was synonymous with the Mexican state as it governed for seven decades until 2000 using a mixture of patronage, repression, rigged elections and bribery.

Thousands of members of the student movement #YoSoy132 (#IAm132) protest outside the Federal Electoral Institute in Guadalajara, Mexico on July 4. Mexico's would-be president Enrique Pena Nieto was hoping that conclusive results would confirm his election victory, but his opponent was holding out for a shock reversal.

Lopez Obrador however did not call for mass protests in the same way as he did in 2006, when he lost by less than one percent, claimed fraud and organized demonstrations that more or less paralyzed Mexico City for over a month.

"We will continue acting in a respectful way in accordance with the law," he said.

The PRI was synonymous with the Mexican state as it governed for seven decades until 2000 using a mixture of patronage, repression, rigged elections and bribery.

An anti-PRI "mega march" has been announced for Saturday in Mexico City via online forums and flyers handed out in the street, but it is unclear who is organizing it.

Voters in the presidential and legislative elections Sunday allegedly showed PRI officials cell phone pictures of their paper ballot to "prove" they voted for the PRI, and received gift cards in return.

The PRI governor of the populous State of Mexico, to the west of Mexico City, offered no excuses for handing out gift cards.

The IFE has until September 6 to resolve balloting complaints and formally announce the winner.

Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) personnel fill in electoral certificates at the end of a vote recount in Mexico City. Mexico's Enrique Pena Nieto hoped definitive election results expected Thursday would officially crown him president-elect, while challenger Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador held out for a shock reversal.

Separately, President Felipe Calderon told the daily Milenio that displeasure with his administration was one of several factors that contributed to the poor showing of PAN candidates.

The party's presidential candidate Josefina Vazquez Mota came in third with about 24 percent of the vote, and other candidates lost important regional governorships and seats in Mexico's congress.

Vazquez Mota on Thursday told reporters that campaign expenses should be scrutinized "with a magnifying glass" -- an indirect swipe at the PRI. "We cannot let the illegal use of resources go unpunished," she said.

Pena Nieto, who declared victory late Sunday, inherits a country beset by a brutal drug war and an economy struggling to create jobs.

The 45-year-old leader has moved quickly to try to allay fears that the corrupt practices of the once authoritarian PRI could make a comeback.

"We are a new generation. We are not returning to the past. My government has its sights set on the future," he told foreign reporters on Monday.

World leaders, including US President Barack Obama, have already congratulated Pena Nieto on his apparent victory.

Source: AlterNet