It is mid-morning in the Zócalo, Mexico City’s the capital’s imposing central square, but already the air in Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s small nylon tent is uncomfortably hot. The pink roses shoved into a glass on the camping table seem to be losing their battle for life and the Mexican flag hanging from a wooden pole in the corner looks too out of place – presumably to give his makeshift surroundings anything resembling a presidential tinge. – looks decidedly out of place.

And he admits that during the first week of Ever since Mr López Obrador, Mexico’s leftwing presidential candidate in the election for president that took place on July 2, lost last month’s election by the a razor-thin margin of 244,000 votes – according to the official count, to Felipe Calderón of the ruling centre-right National Action party, won by 0.58 per cent – he has been “fighting to save democracy”.

does not complain though. It may be a far cry from the comforts of his modest flat a few miles away. of the Zocalo – he was flooded more than once. For the But ever since Mr López Obrador, leader of Mexico’s Democratic Revolution party, , For him, His the first task in saving democracy is forcing the country’s electoral tribunal to order a full recount. of the votes cast on July 2. Only this will can “could “clean” an election that he claims was riddled with irregularities and one that was subjected to numerous and illegal nefarious influence by Mexico’s electoral authorities, leading business, local media organisations and, in particular, Vicente Fox, the outgoing president and a member of Mr Calderón’s party.

Mr López Obrador’s problem is that, more than three weeks after he ordered the occupation of the Zócalo and Paseo de la Reforma, one of the city’s biggest most important avenues, in the city, the tribunal appears in no mood to heed the campaigner’s demands. Besides, time is running out: it must declare a president-elect by September 6.

No matter. In a rare interview, Mr López Obrador told the Financial Times at the weekend says that not only would his struggle will wouldcontinue but that it will would also doubtless become more radical and incorporate new acts of “civil resistance” to press his case.Mexico needs a revolution,” he says.

All this has come as little surprise to his critics, who brand the handsome, silver-haired 52-year-old man now in his early 50s simply as an unreformed leftist campaigner with an authoritarian streak and scant regard for legal process.

They would probably be unsurprised, too, to learn what Mr López Obrador is reading: Sources on the History of the Mexican Revolution, a large leather-bound book with gold leaf on the spine. “You have to know history to know what to do in circumstances . . .”, he says in a typically staccatoed tone, which before tailing off into silence.

Amid Over the din of ringing cathedral bells, Mr López Obrador then explains that the book is a collection of all the revolutionary plans in Mexican history. At the moment, he is has been reading about José Vasconcelos, a prominent revolutionary figure in the Mexican revolution who later put down his loss in the 1929 presidential election to fraud and called on supporters to begin an armed struggle. And like that that of Vasconcelos, Mr López Obrador is aware that the story of his own struggle will doubtless might be retold for future generations.

in school textbooks for centuries to come. ““Never in this country’s history has an opposition movement managed to bring together so many people,” he says. “This is a historic moment because the next few days will define the future of democracy in Mexico, the role of the institutions and respect for the constitution.”

But he also says that his movement is peaceful. On July 30, when he called on hundreds of thousands of supporters who had gathered to protest against the election result to occupy the Zócalo and Paseo de la Reforma, he explained that each camp should promote culture and entertainment, including theatre, chess, poetry recitals and painting workshops for children.

The result has been the one of the most extraordinary transformation of what was once a busy and congested road a thoroughfare into a fanfare of entertainment. In the Zócalo itself, where about 5,000 supporters have joined Mr López Obrador’s camp, a stage has hosted live music daily.for more than 20 consecutive days.

As a political strategy, however, most political analysts believe the call for peaceful civil resistance is a big mistake. The resulting traffic chaos from the blockade of Reforma has annoyed many residents in the capital, which is by far Mr López Obrador’s biggest support base. An increasingly radical strategy may also alienate members of his own party, which did exceptionally well at the legislative level. Before long, they argue, instead of becoming a new Vasconcelos, he Mr López Obrador may find himself a lonely – and insignificant – character, on Mexico’s political stage, they argue.

Mr López Obrador , dressed in a white shirt with a thin blue check and a brown suede jacket, admits that “there has been a drain of support” since he began his civil resistance campaign. He also admits accepts that less than half the population supports him in his struggle. In the capital, for example, he believes he now has the backing of 38 per cent of its citizens. of the population.

But he insists that he had no option but to challenge the authorities. “You can’t stop them unless you take these kinds of steps. The way to fight fraud and to overcome the news blackout is what we are doing now,” he says. “If we hadn’t taken Reforma [the occupied avenue], we would not exist.”

He says the guiding light in his movement is “moral and political authority”. For him, much of that authority is based on irrefutable fact. For about a week following the election, Mr López Obrador held daily press conferences to present video footage of what he claimed was conclusive proof of vote-tampering. Now, following a very limited recount of the votes ordered by the electoral tribunal, he says there is further evidence of “irregularities”.

For many others, though, his moral authority is based less on fact but rather on a deeply rooted – almost spiritually unquestioning – belief that he is invariably right and that it is his sense of mission to purge Mexico’s political system of the corruption he sees asafflicting it. Indeed, in his tent, much of what he says supports that view. He insists, for example, that he does not worry that his struggle could erode his enormous political capital.

“If this were about power for power’s sake then, yes, they could say that this person is stubborn and capricious, that he wants to become president at any cost. But the people understand that I am not a vulgar and ambitious, that we are fighting for principles and ideals.”

That is why, he claims maintains, his political opponents find him so hard to deal with. “They are used to dealing with traditional politicians,” he says. “So when they tell me that I am no longer acting like a politician but like a social leader my heart fills with pride because what they are telling you is ‘you are not corrupt’.”

Where will all this is will ultimately lead? That is still difficult to tell. But Mr López Obrador says September 16 will be a “historic day”. That is the moment when He plans to bring together 1m of the movement’s “delegates” that day to decide on what action to take “to decide the future of our movement”. What he is sure about, however, is that the occupation will remain and that “the struggle will continue”.

In that case, Camping out in the square has already brought a flooding to his tent, or two, before his followers raised his tent it off the Zocalo’s cold stone floor. if is certain is that if the tribunal rules against him, it could mean Mr López Obrador could will in his tent for a very long time there be calling his tent home indefinitely.