Viva La Revolution, Mexico-Style

Protesters paralyze Mexico City over presidential vote outcome

Thousands of backers of Mexico's leftist presidential candidate stepped up their protest against the July 2 vote, camping out in the streets of Mexico City and causing massive traffic jams.

Leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is challenging electoral results that gave victory to his conservative rival Felipe Calderon, led the protest from a yellow canvas tent on the downtown Zocalo square, facing the presidential palace.

He and his supporters spent the night camping out in a protest the politician said would continue until authorities agree to a recount of the votes cast in what he called a fraudulent election.

Many of the protesters pitched their tents along Reforma avenue, one of the city's main arteries, erecting an eight-kilometer (five-mile) blockade that caused massive traffic jams and turned parts of the megalopolis into pedestrian zones.

"Traffic has been paralyzed by the blockades, there are traffic jams in the entire city," said Fernando Puga, of the city's traffic support services.

Lopez Obrador, a fiery former Mexico City mayor, had called for the campaign during a massive rally in the capital on Sunday, which city authorities said brought together a record 1.2 million people.

He asked his backers to set up 47 sites across the city's main thoroughfares.

"I suggest we stay here, in a permanent assembly, until the resolution of the court," Lopez Obrador said during Sunday's protest rally, the third since the election.

Electoral authorities have said that Calderon got the most votes in the July 2 presidential election, but Lopez Obrador, who trailed him by just 0.58 percentage points, challenged the outcome before the Federal Electoral Tribunal.

The tribunal, the ultimate arbiter in electoral disputes, has until September 6 to formally announce the name of the president-elect, who will take office on December 1.

Earlier this month, Lopez Obrador's leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) sent an 836-page document to the court claiming that the vote was invalid, and suppled videotapes and other alleged evidence of cheating.

Lopez Obrador wants a recount of the 41 million ballots cast in the presidential elections, claiming tallies from 72,197 polling stations, out of a total 130,500, contain errors that clearly demonstrate the vote was fraudulent.