Mexico wraps up presidential campaign

Pan candidate Vicente Fox hopes to ride to victory

Political leaders in Mexico have wrapped up their campaigns ahead of Sunday's presidential election, which is expected to be the most hotly-contested and cleanest ballots in the country's history.

The world's longest-ruling party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Pri), faces its toughest challenge ever.

Latest polls indicate the opposition National Action Party (Pan) has its best chance of winning the presidency for the first time.

The Pri is widely believed to have retained its power for 71 years through control of state institutions and electoral fraud.

Cowboy boots

Fox says the Pri has impoverished millions

Former governor and businessman Vicente Fox, said he was confident he would win the vote for Pan.

A tall, burly rancher known for his signature cowboy boots warned the authorities against vote-rigging.

"If there is fraud, if there are irregularities, we'll surely defend the citizens' votes," he told the Associated Press in the final interview of a three-year campaign.

"First we'll use legal defences, and of course we'll also mobilise our people," he said.

Mr Fox has said that if elected he would fight corruption and drug smuggling, and ensure the nation's wealth is distributed more equally.

He said he would be able to work better with the United States because "[the US] will be looking at a democratic government and will look at us as an equal."

Rural vote

The Pri is hoping that rural areas, which bring in between 25 to 30% of the vote will help it keep its hold on power.

Labastida has weathered political attacks

For many of the rural poor, party and state are seen as the same thing, which critics say the Pri has used to its advantage by conducting public works projects before elections.

The Pri has been criticised for using social programmes such as Progresa, which benefits seven million peasants, in its campaign.

Its candidate Francisco Labastida has been noted for weathering the increasing political attacks, a mark of the growing democracy in the country.

"In the last few weeks, [Mr Fox] has called me shorty, gay, he has called me a transvestite, he has said I'm henpecked," Mr Labastida said on national television in April.

"But this doesn't offend me. Rather, it offends all Mexican families."

Mr Labastida is believed to be the favourite of outgoing President Ernesto Zedillo.

Fox says he will help redistribute the nation's wealth to the poor

On Wednesday, police arrested five people after supporters of Mr Fox sprayed an oily perfume on one of Mexico City's main roads, causing a pile-up involving several cars.

The supporters had hung banners from nearby bridges declaring: "It smells different around here. Here comes Vicente!"

An official from Mr Fox's campaign denied any involvement in the incident.