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To some Mexican expatriates in Tucson, Mexico's hotly disputed presidential election exemplifies the growing pains of democracy.

"The controversy is testing the institutional democracies of Mexico," said Florencio Zara-goza of Fundación México. "The hope is that the process will work itself out — the stability of Mexico is at stake."

The Sunday election was too close to call initially. After three days of ballot counting, the final tally from Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute Thursday showed Felipe Calderón as the winner.

Calderón, of the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, received 243,000 more votes than his main rival, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD. The Federal Election Tribunal still must ratify the count. Calderón received 35.8 percent of the vote, while 35.3 percent went to López Obrador.

For his part, López Obrador — who came to be known as the champion of the poor — already has said he will challenge the election results in court. He and his supporters plan to hold a rally Saturday in Mexico City.

Zaragoza, who voted by mail for López Obrador, said the dispute surrounding the presidential election in his native country reminds him of the battle for Florida votes in the 2000 U.S. presidential race.

"It had never happened in Mexico, we had never had such a close presidential race," he said. "I trust that everything will be worked out and that soon the Federal Electoral Tribunal will declare the president-elect."

Votes from abroad were not enough to have a significant impact on the election, Zaragoza said, but were nonetheless an important step for Mexico.

Thursday's vote tally showing Calderón's narrow lead over López Obrador flashed in the early afternoon on a TV screen inside a Tucson beauty shop. Watching intently was hairdresser Noemi Garcia, 28. She traveled to her hometown of Nacozari, Sonora, to vote for Calderón, a former energy minister in the administration of outgoing President Vicente Fox.

Garcia said she is glad Calderón will be Mexico's next president because he can improve on the achievements of his predecessor, who also is a PAN member. She particularly liked that the pro-business Calderón wants to continue Fox's amicable relationship with the United States, which Garcia said could benefit the millions of Mexicans who live in this country both legally and illegally.

As someone who has lived and worked here illegally for four years with no options to gain U.S. legal status, Garcia said she liked Calderón's promise to work with U.S. leaders for immigration laws that would benefit her and many of her friends.

One of them is Bety Martinez, 29, another hairdresser from Nacozari who has lived in Tucson without proper government documentation for five years. She was unable to vote for the next Mexican president, she said, but her heart is with López Obrador.

"Maybe he wouldn't have fought as hard for an amnesty here, but he was going to help many of Mexico's poor ," Martinez said.

Their work colleague, Javier López, a permanent legal resident who did not vote, said he liked that his compatriots in Mexico are speaking out about the election results.

"People are raising their voice, and that's something that didn't happen a lot in Mexico," López said. He just hopes political rallies and demonstrations stay peaceful, he said.

Inside a South Side ice cream shop, Elia Moreno Zárate mourned the electoral institute's final tally against her candidate, López Obrador.

She left for Tucson to visit relatives soon after voting for the former Mexico City mayor in her hometown of Culiacán, Sinaloa.

"He was going to fight for the poor," Moreno Zárate said.