The man who still claims he was cheated out of Mexico's presidency six years ago pledged before a chanting crowd Saturday that he will bring peace, democracy and decentralized government this time around.
"We will end the government of privilege," Cuauhtemoc Cardenas of the leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party promised tens of thousands of backers crammed into the downtown Zocalo plaza, the heart of the Mexican capital.The other leading opposition candidate, Diego Fernandez de Cevallos of the conservative National Action Party, called his supporters to a rally later in the day at the Zocalo.
Final campaign rallies are scheduled throughout Mexico this week, but the gatherings in the Zocalo were expected to be among the largest for the Aug. 21 presidential election.
Front-runner Ernesto Zedillo, 42, of the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the PRI, planned a rally at the Zocalo on Sunday.
The PRI has not lost a presidential vote in its 65 years, often in elections tainted by fraud accusations. At this point it is almost impossible to distinguish the party from the government.
But the PRI and the outgoing government have promised that this election will be the cleanest in Mexico's history, pointing to a series of electoral reforms passed under President Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
Several hundred foreign "visitors" will watch the election for the first time. Also for the first time, the pro-government media giant Televisa is airing the closing campaigns of the major opposition candidates.
However, many still fear fraud, especially in remote precincts where local political bosses often produce near-unanimous votes for the PRI.
Cardenas, 60, said his party would rule "within democracy and peace."
"I will be the president of all Mexicans, not just the chief of a political party," Cardenas said. His supporters roared their approval, waving the sunny yellow flags of his party.
He also pledged to decentralize Mexico's federal government and renegotiate some parts of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which took effect Jan. 1. He did not go into details.
"We have great hopes that Cardenas will win," said schoolteacher Fernando Isaro, who traveled to Mexico City from the town of Coeneo, Michoacan. "And we are prepared to hold massive protests if there is any fraud."