The head of the EU observers’ mission, Spaniard José Ignacio Salafranca, acknowledged there were irregularities but said the vote results were valid. “These elections were free, authentic and the results represent the legitimate will of the Mexican people,” Salafranca said in a statement distributed by the federal Attorney General’s Office.

“The elections complied with respect for the law, transparency and the principles of the rule of law,” he said.

Left-leaning candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador — who lost the race by a razor- thin margin to President-elect Felipe Calderón — has claimed he was robbed of victory by vote fraud. He alleges that votes were miscounted, ballot boxes were stuffed and that business groups and outgoing President Vicente Fox unfairly interfered in the campaign.

The Saturday statement did not specifically address those accusations but quoted Sala- franca as saying that “even though irregularities and insufficiencies are inevitable in electoral processes, in general terms (the observers) found the elections in Mexico were carried out with transparency, seriousness and equity.”

The statement also said the observers included observations and recommendations in their report. Earlier this week, Salafranca said those recommendations included considering a second round of voting to determine close races, shortening the current campaign period of around six months and reducing the costs of elections.

However, special electoral prosecutor María de los Ángeles Fromow recommended a series of reforms to electoral laws to specify the definition of electoral crimes, adjust penalties for them, make political parties more accountable and increase transparency.