After a vote recount of Mexico’s presidential elections, Enrique Peña Nieto, of the Partido Revolucionario Institutional (PRI) was finally declared the winner by Mexican electoral authorities yesterday.

However, the left-of-centre candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Partido Revolucionario Democratico (PRD) continues to claim that the PRI victory was thanks to vote buying schemes and other irregularities, which included biased press coverage and faulty electoral polls.

The electoral uncertainty was heightened by a massive demonstration on 7 July. Thousands of people packed Mexico City’s Zocalo Square, the world’s third largest plaza. Obrador also said he will soon reveal evidence showing the PRI won by buying 5 million votes.

Mexican media outlets were severely criticised, with accusastions of partisanship.

First, there were the charges against Televisa of allegedly helping promote the candidacy of Peña Nieto. After the election on 1 July, the magazine Proceso, which supported Lopez Obrador, published a cover that showing the Televisa logo with the presidential banner across it.

Then there were charges against other major media groups that could not be proven, except by looking at individual coverage that was slanted towards the PRI. Other similar accusations were lodged against pollsters, which throughout the elections gave the PRI two-digit percentage leads, while in the end the difference was only seven per cent.