Filling the nation's central square with cheering supporters, Mexico's ruling party staged its last major celebration Sunday before a crucial national election, but it didn't have much to celebrate.
Its candidate trails badly in the mayoral race for Mexico City - the political, economic and cultural capital of Mexico - and the party could lose the congressional majority it has held since 1929 during July 6 elections.But there was little sense of the party's troubles in the regal Zocalo plaza on Sunday. More than 100,000 supporters of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the PRI, filled the square with red, white and green balloons and gigantic banners.
"We are going to win with work and firmness, and we are going to defend what we have built," mayoral candidate Alfredo del Mazo told the throng.
Red, white and green are the colors both of the Mexican flag and of the PRI, in the same way the boundaries between party and state have been blurred for most of modern Mexican history.
Many in the crowd were from groups that have benefited from government policies. Ruben Davila, 23, noted the party has tried to protect street venders like himself from complaints by shopkeepers.
"Thanks to the PRI, we have continued working in the public streets," he said.