EXPATRIATES WELCOME TALLY RESULTS MEXICANS IN U.S. SUPPORT CALDERON.

Byline: RACHEL URANGA Staff Writer

Mexican presidential candidate Felipe Calderon's slim victory in Sunday's hotly contested election riled some Mexican expatriates living in the United States, but most saw the conservative politician's win as a welcome step for the country's budding democracy.

The close election had bitterly divided Mexicans for months and many still worry that questions over the narrow victory margin -- less than 1 percentage point -- could lead to violent protests across the country.

Mexicans living here solidly supported Calderon over Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the scrappy former mayor of Mexico City whose populist platform was backed by organized labor.

Lopez Obrador vowed Thursday to contest Calderon's victory in the courts.

``Democracy in Mexico is beginning to take hold,'' said Ramon Hernandez, a 52-year-old Los Angeles cook. ``Obrador has no legitimacy. Why is he challenging this? The peso could fall because of this.''

The Harvard-educated Calderon of the ruling National Action Party, or PAN, prevailed by 243,000 votes out of 41 million cast on Sunday.

Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, accused election officials of manipulating the vote and called for his supporters to protest Saturday in Mexico City's main square.

Party loyalists in Los Angeles echoed Lopez Obrador's concerns and called for demonstrations in front of the Mexican Consulate on Friday and marches along Olvera Street on Saturday to coincide with those in Mexico City.

Moreover, they complained that the expatriate vote -- the first ever in a presidential election -- was too cumbersome and cost the PRD votes.

``We don't want another Florida, 2000 here. We want every vote to count, including the vote from the United States that never got to be cast,'' said Felipe Aguirre, member of the PRD national committee.

Of the 4 million eligible to vote, only 32,621 expatriates did so. A third of those votes came from California -- home to the largest Mexican population in the U.S.

But among immigrants Calderon garnered 58 percent of the votes compared with 34 percent backing Lopez Obrador.

Experts attribute the difference to President Vicente Fox, whose PAN party broke 71 years of one-party rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, and raised the profile of immigrants abroad.

He created an institute allowing them to lobby in Mexico and established a close personal relationship with President George W. Bush.

Calderon is expected to continue Fox's policies. He has also promised to negotiate a deal with the money wire services that transfer millions of dollars immigrants send home fueling the Mexican economy.

``Calderon has a better agenda for immigrants and Mexicans. He is talking about bilateral relations, he is not demanding things like (Lopez) Obrador,'' said Adrian Maldonado, a 39-year-old salesman who voted for Calderon. ``But right now, I am worried about violence. (Lopez) Obrador is giving the wrong message to these people. There are better ways to analyze the voting, not asking people to come out.''

A recent poll found that more than half of the Mexican immigrants following the election supported Calderon but just as many didn't know or were not interested in any of the candidates and most didn't vote.

``A lot of people were detached from the political process,'' said Cristina Garcia, director of public policy and polling at Garcia Research. ``For a lot of immigrants the discrepancies in the vote only further confirm their distrust in the political process.''

Dionisio Ventura, a 34-year-old bartender from North Hills, said he didn't vote but was thrilled to learn Calderon triumphed.

``(Lopez) Obrador wasn't prepared to lead the people. He is charismatic but not a political animal that can take Mexico forward.''

rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com

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