Mexican voters oppose Calderon’s plan for oil industry

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Turnout was light, but voters in a nonbinding referendum gave an overwhelming ‘no’ to President Felipe Calderon’s proposal to give private firms a bigger role in Mexico’s government-controlled petroleum industry, reports the L.A. Times’ Marla Dickerson.

More than 80% of those who cast ballots Sunday in Mexico City opposed the plan, according to the official tally of the federal district released Monday. The results were even more lopsided outside the capital, where nine of Mexico’s 31 states also participated. With about two-thirds of the ballots counted, more than 90% of those voters gave the president’s proposal a thumbs down.

Slightly more than 1.5 million people cast ballots Sunday. Organizers had been hoping for a turnout twice that size in the greater Mexico City area alone.

But according to El Universal here in Mexico this morning, Calderon said in a meeting last night that the Consulta Ciudadana failed to achieve its objective of discrediting his reforms, and that it had been designed to obstruct the discussion.

Read more about the results of the ballot on the future of Mexico’s oil here, and watch a video of Mexicans voting Sunday here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City