Several thousand Mexicans staged a pro-democracy rally on Saturday to back President Vicente Fox, who is risking the wrath of electoral authorities by celebrating his historical election victory five years ago.
Crowds gathered at the capital's Angel monument where Mr Fox was to give a speech later to mark the fifth anniversary of his historic election victory that did away with 71 years of one-party rule.
The opposition has complained to the Federal Electoral Institute watchdog that the rally is an attempt to influence governorship elections in the state of Mexico on Sunday, where Mr Fox's conservative National Action Party is struggling.
The electoral body has warned Mr Fox to avoid partisan behavior at the rally, organized by supporters of his PAN party.
Fox swept away the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, in elections on July 2, 2000, but high hopes of a better life for Mexicans have largely not been realized.
Supporters recalled Mr Fox's record as a democrat.
"There is more democracy, of course. Mr Fox worked for many years to break the PRI," said pharmacy worker Mr Rogelio Perez, 27, twirling a wooden rattle at the rally.
Attendance at Saturday's event was a far cry from five years ago, when tens of thousands of Mexicans rushed to the landmark monument after Mr Fox won the presidency.
The main opposition PRI still dominates Congress where it has blocked Mr Fox's economic reform plans. Opinion polls show the party's candidate, Mr Enrique Pena, is also set to win Sunday's election in the state of Mexico, seen as a key indicator of the presidential polls in July 2006.