Mexico leftists to occupy capital in vote protest

Felipe Calderon beat Lopez Obrador by about 244,000 votes out of over 41 million cast. Picture / Reuters

MEXICO CITY - A fiery leftist who claims he was robbed of victory in Mexico's presidential election led hundreds of thousands of people in a protest on Sunday and told them to occupy the capital until all the votes were recounted.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told supporters at a protest rally in the capital the occupation would include the imposing Zocalo square, one of the largest in the world, and main roads running through the city centre.

The protest is certain to cause traffic chaos in the capital, including the main financial district, and marks the start of a campaign of civil disobedience to protest suspected fraud in the July 2 election.

"I propose that we stay here day and night until the votes are counted and we have a president-elect," Lopez Obrador said, adding he would live with thousands of supporters in the Zocalo until the election fight was resolved.

"I assure you our effort and sacrifice will not be in vain," he said.

The imposing Zocalo was once the centre of the Aztec empire and is still the heart of modern Mexico, home to the National Palace and the capital's main cathedral.

Hundreds of thousands of people packed the capital on Sunday to back Lopez Obrador, and they screamed "Yes" when he proposed the full-time occupation.

"Andres Manuel, hold on, the people are rising up," supporters chanted on Sunday, many dressed in the bright yellow of his leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD.

It was the third major protest rally in the past three weeks and one of the biggest in Mexican history. City police said more than a million people joined the march, although their estimates are often exaggerated as the capital is run by Lopez Obrador's party.

Mexico was plunged into a political crisis by the razor-thin July 2 election, which saw conservative ruling party candidate Felipe Calderon beat Lopez Obrador by only about 244,000 votes out of more than 41 million cast.

Lopez Obrador, an austere former mayor of Mexico City who promised to help the poor with ambitious infrastructure and welfare programmes, says the result was rigged against him.

"The elections were filthy," said Maria Teresa Priego, a 57-year-old city government employee. "We are here to support a humble man, a hard-working man."

The fight has split Mexico just six years after President Vicente Fox won a historic election that ended seven decades of one-party rule.

Recent polls show slightly more than half the country thinks Calderon won cleanly but more than a third believe there was fraud and half want a recount.

Lopez Obrador says vote counts were fiddled at more than half the country's roughly 130,000 polling stations. He is challenging them before Mexico's highest electoral court, and says he will only accept the result if there is a recount.

Critics accuse him of holding the country to ransom with threats of civil disobedience.

Calderon insists the vote was clean and no recount is needed. He was to argue his case before the electoral court judges on Sunday.

The seven judges on the electoral court have until August 31 to decide whether there is a case to reopen ballot boxes.

Their options range from throwing out Lopez Obrador's case and declaring Calderon the winner, to ordering a partial or full recount or even annulling the vote and calling a repeat.

An annulment is thought highly unlikely. Without it, the court must formally declare the president-elect by September 6.

- REUTERS