The streets of Mexico City are alive in protest, as thousands of dissatisfied voters continue to denounce Enrique Peña Nieto’s victory in this month’s presidential election.

Officials estimate about 30,000 turned up for Sunday’s protest, many of them young members of Yo Soy 132, a social-network influenced student movement that gained notable attention in this year’s campaigns.

Protestors, and supporters of runner-up Andrés Manuel López Obrador (PRD), accuse Peña Nieto of buying votes, laundering money and arranging favourable coverage via the Televisa network.

Peña Nieto, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, has denied the accusations.

Protestors marched to Mexico City’s main square, holding banners and chanting “Out with Pena” and “Fraud, Fraud.”

López Obrador has personally challenged the election results, announcing plans to invalidate Peña Nieto’s win at the Federal Electoral Tribunal. The tribunal must decide on the election’s validity by early September. Peña Nieto is due to take office on 1st December.

A final poll recount had Peña Nieto with 38.21% of the vote and López Obrador with 31.59%.

López Obrador made headlines in 2006 when he protested his loss to Felipe Calderón in the presidential election. The 2006 election’s margin of loss was 250,000 votes, versus this month’s margin of 3 million votes.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is refusing to admit defeat in the Mexican presidential elections, as he sits six points behind Enrique Peña Nieto with almost 99% of the votes counted.

“I can’t accept any result without being completely certain that the votes of the citizens were respected and that the election was not fraudulent,” he said in a press conference in Mexico City yesterday.

The closer-than-expected race between Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and Obrador’s Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) is fuelling suspicion from Obrador and his followers about the fairness of the vote. The PRI leads with 3.2 million votes according to the Federal Electoral Institute.

“We are requesting the ballots and gathering all testimonies about irregularities,” said Obrador.

The 58-year-old former mayor of Mexico City is accusing his rival and winning candidate Peña Nieto of using money of illicit origins and illegal media sponsorship as well as claiming that the election was full of inaccuracies and inconsistencies.

Despite having signed a contract with other candidates saying they would recognize the results, the presidential contender launched allegations before all votes were counted.

A spokesman for Peña Nieto’s party, Eduardo Sanchez, denied the accusations last night in an interview with Bloomberg.

“The charges are offensive to the dignity of all the voters, because they allege that Mexican voters are susceptible to vote buying,” he said.

Yesterday hundreds of young people gathered at a monument along Mexico City’s Reforma Avenue to protest. The students claimed they knew of cases of irregularities and also said the media manipulated pre-election polls to favour Peña Nieto.

This is the second time that Obrador has refused to concede. In 2006 when he lost by 1% he organized protests that paralyzed Mexico City and lasted for months after the election. The party will officially decide whether or not to formally protest the results tomorrow once the district votes have been counted.

In the meantime Peña Nieto has already released an inaugural speech pledging to move Mexico forward without corruption and with open-mindedness.

“I will be a modern, responsible president, who is open to criticism and ready to listen and take into account the views of everyone,” he said.

Mexico’s four presidential candidates are in the final stages of closing their campaigns, as next Sunday’s presidential election nears.

The winner will succeed current president Felipe Calderón (National Action Party, or PAN), who has held two terms of power since 2000. Before that, the Insitutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) held office for 72 years.

The candidates spoke to supports at various venues in Mexico this weekend.

Andres Manuel López Obrador (Democratic Revolution Party) held an event at Plaza Juárez in Guadalajara, where he remarked that on Monday, Mexico “will celebrate its fourth historical transformation” and that “there will be justice” for the Mexican people.

López Obrador ran for the presidential seat in 2006, but lost by a narrow margin against Calderón.

Enrique Peña Nieto (Institutional Revolutionary Party) holds the first place in the polls by a margin of around 12 to 16%, and is favoured to win the election. Peña Nieto, who spoke at Aztec Stadium in Mexico City, said he would be the indisputable winner of the election.

Josefina Vasquez Mota, from PAN, spoke at the pier of Port of Veracruz, and said, “I come to offer a possible Mexico, a Mexico for everyone, it’s now or never…”

Gabriel Quadri (New Alliance Party) closed his campaign in Tlalnepantla, reminding listeners that education is at the forefront of his policy.

Wednesday, 27th June marks the official last day of campaigns. López Obrador’s campaign will culminate with a march through Mexico City, Vázquez Mota’s will close at Omnilife Stadium in Guadalajara, Peña Nieto’s in Toluca and Quadri’s in Aguascalientes.