The Times, where a glimmer of sense occasionally penetrates the editorial page, if not the “news hole”:
The Western world has had quite a bit of experience with near-ties in recent years. … But there are enough problems to warrant a complete recount. Some polling stations that have recounted their ballots have found that the votes were misrecorded on tally sheets. The earlier discrepancies appeared to largely favor Mr. Calderón, in at least one case mistakenly awarding him hundreds of extra votes. The I.F.E. cannot legally order a recount of the entire presidential election. But the Federal Election Tribunal, an independent panel created to handle these kinds of disputes, could. In previous races, it has even gone so far as to call new elections in the states of Tabasco and Colima.
And the Financial Times:
[T]he result - victory by a narrow margin for Felipe Calderón of the governing centre-right National Action party - has left millions of Mexicans with more than a bitter taste. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the leading leftwing challenger, is alleging foul play and demanding a full recount of the votes. That is exactly what Mexico’s electoral authorities should do.
Nevertheless, a full recount would help Mexico through this crisis in several ways. First, if properly and fairly conducted it would resolve once and for all who won the election and would send a clear message to suspicious minds that Mexico is a transparent democracy.
We could use some of that “transparency” here.
Second, if it confirms his triumph a recount would help Mr Calderón govern more effectively. Mr Calderón is promising to seek national reconciliation but this will be difficult to achieve if substantial numbers of poorer Mexicans view him as an illegitimate leader.
Sound familiar? Remember “a uniter not a divider”? After Bush v Gore that was never going to possible for Bush, even if he wasn’t a wholly owned subsidiary of the Christianists.
Last week, Mr Calderón told the Financial Times that he was in favour of a recount in principle but worried that opening all the ballot boxes would flout the country’s laws, thus providing the opposition with an excuse to argue that the entire election should be declared null and void. The electoral authorities should take whatever steps are necessary to provide him with the guarantees to enable a full recount without jeopardising the election itself. The decision could provide some short-term drawbacks - not least more weeks of uncertainty. But the long-term benefits would be far more important.
Mr. Calderon, open those ballot boxes!