A Year Later, A Mexican Leftist’s Tone Is Subdued

MEXICO CITY, July 1 — It has been a year since the leftist leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador stood before hundreds of thousands of supporters and declared that the countrys presidential election had been stolen from him. On Sunday he repeated the performance, but the crowds were smaller and quieter, while their leader has begun to sound less like a firebrand.

The rally in the capitals central square was widely seen here as an attempt by Mr. López Obrador to reinvigorate his flagging antiestablishment movement and as a test of his political strength. It coincides with the publication of his book, The Mafia Robbed Us of the Presidency.

About 80,000 people showed up, many of them bused in for the event with financing from the Democratic Revolution Party, which Mr. López Obrador leads. The mood was subdued compared with the electrified atmosphere of last year, when he vowed to begin protests and to stop his conservative rival, Felipe Calderón, from taking office.

Since the election, he has steadfastly maintained that he was a victim of fraud at the polls and of a last-minute advertising blitz by business leaders. Indeed, he has ignored the results and has continued to campaign as if the election never happened.

On Sunday, he again called on his supporters, in the streets and in Congress, not to cooperate with Mr. Calderón, who took office in December.

I am optimistic and I maintain that sooner or later our cause will triumph, Mr. López Obrador said. Everything depends on us not tiring and I ask you not to tire and to stand firm on our convictions.

Looking slightly tired himself, he then urged opposition leaders to reject a tax overhaul bill that the president has proposed and to begin protests if the administration went forward with plans to allow private investment in the state oil monopoly for the purposes of exploration.

After many challenges, election authorities determined that Mr. López Obrador, a former mayor of Mexico City who goes by his initials, Amlo, narrowly lost the contest last year to Mr. Calderón, a conservative backed by big business. During his campaign, Mr. López Obrador promised to raise taxes on the rich, cut government waste and expand welfare programs. His call resonated with many of the 50 million Mexicans who live on less than $4 a day.

For months he spoke in towns across the country, calling himself the legitimate president and criticizing Mr. Calderón at every turn. He has also denounced the president during a weekly television program broadcast before dawn.

For his most loyal followers, like those who filled the central square to hear him on Sunday, his word has the ring of gospel. We are here because a year after the theft of the election, we must support our legitimate president, said Catalina Montes, 49, a homemaker who had come out to see the former mayor. For us, Amlo is the president, even if he doesnt have an office at the official residence in Los Pinos.

The mainstream news media have largely ignored Mr. López Obradors allegations of fraud and moved on to other topics.

President Calderón, in the meantime, has eclipsed his former rival in the public eye, grabbing headlines with an aggressive campaign against drug traffickers and crime. He has sent thousands of troops and federal police officers into drug-plagued cities to retake the streets, and his approval rating now hovers around 65 percent in most polls.

Still, Mr. López Obrador has stubbornly kept up his campaign to undermine Mr. Calderóns presidency. Some polls suggest that the wounds of the election have not healed entirely. A recent poll by the newspaper La Reforma, for instance, found that 38 percent of those interviewed still said that fraud marred the election last year. The pollsters questioned 1,515 adults in person across the country. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus three percentage points.

Yet many middle-class Mexicans who supported Mr. López Obrador have become disenchanted. Antonio Cruz, 56, a storekeeper in the citys historic center, said he voted for the former mayor but now wants him to accept the results.

Look, I think Amlo should stop being ridiculous, he said. He doesnt know how to lose, and now this thing about the legitimate president is absurd. Sincerely, if he wants to help the country, he should join opposition forces in the fight. But he criticizes everything — he doesnt like anything — and this holds the country back.

Antonio Betancourt contributed reporting.

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