Mass protest over Mexico election

More than 100,000 people have gathered in Mexico City to support demands for a recount after last weekend's hotly disputed presidential election.

The rally was called by losing candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

He says he will go to the country's election tribunal and to court to overturn an election he alleges was "plagued with irregularities".

Felipe Calderon of the ruling National Action Party won 35.88% of the vote, against 35.31% for Mr Lopez Obrador.

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The BBC's Daniel Lak at the rally says the tightly packed crowds in the capital's vast Zocalo Square cheered madly as Mr Lopez Obrador appeared on the giant television screen over a stage.

The practices we saw in this electoral process were sophisticated but they represent the same defrauding we have always seen Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

Huge banners denounced Mr Calderon and accused him of electoral fraud.

Mr Lopez Obrador told the crowd: "We are going to ask that they clean up the elections. We are going to ask that they count all the votes, vote-by-vote, poll-by-poll."

He has said he will ask the country's Federal Electoral Tribunal and the Supreme Court to look into the allegations of fraud and vote-rigging.

Mr Lopez Obrador, the candidate of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), said ahead of the rally: "The votes were counted but were badly counted. They were counted to favour the right-wing candidate."

He said Saturday's rally would be the first of several but vowed all would be peaceful.

The vote will not be declared complete until the electoral tribunal certifies the count.

Parties must file complaints by Monday and the tribunal must certify the winner by 6 September. It has the power to alter results and even call new polls.

Election monitors from the European Union said on Friday they found no irregularities in last Sunday's election.

A number of international leaders, including US President George W Bush, have congratulated Mr Calderon on his victory.