Mexican election body denies count manipulated

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's election authority has denied that vote counts were manipulated in the country's contested presidential election, as leftist runner-up Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador claims.

The Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), which ran last Sunday's election, denied an allegation by Lopez Obrador that the vote count that saw ruling-party conservative Felipe Calderon win by a hair's breadth was bogus.

Rene Miranda, an official in charge of the preliminary vote count for the IFE, said the vote count showing Calderon won, albeit by a tiny margin, was accurate and reliable.

"It always reflected the reality of the country," he told a news conference.

"It's impossible to do any kind of manipulation."

The initial election result given on Sunday night gave Calderon the advantage but was deemed too close to call because of the tight margin.

A recount of tally sheets concluded that Calderon won the election by less than one percentage point.

Calderon has yet to be officially named president-elect, however, and Lopez Obrador - who briefly surged into the lead during the recount - plans to challenge the result in court.

- REUTERS