Mexico City ? Amid paralyzing street protests and rising concerns about damage to Mexico’s democracy, the nation’s highest electoral court will have an open meeting today to consider a recount of the July 2 presidential vote.

A full recount would satisfy the chief demand of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The leftist ex-mayor of Mexico City narrowly lost to the conservative Felipe Calderon, according to official figures. But he insists he was robbed.

Lopez Obrador’s supporters have shut off the historic center of Mexico City and closed a key downtown artery. They vow to expand protests unless the electoral tribunal orders a full recount.

“We apologize to all the people this is affecting,” said Magdalena Cosio, 40, a lawyer who was organizing one of the camps blocking Reforma avenue and ratcheting up the stress level for thousands of Mexico City residents. “We are suffering from this traffic chaos, too.

“But we really feel this is a response to the demands of all the people who want a recount. We are sure we are right.”

People look at copies of tally sheets from the presidential election in Mexico City, Mexico. Supporters of Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador set up 476 copies of tally sheets that allegedly provide evidence of electoral fraud in favor of Felipe Calderon, of the National Action Party.

Polls show most Mexicans favor a full recount. Calderon won by fewer than 244,000 votes out of nearly 42 million cast. And though no evidence of widespread fraud has been produced, the Federal Electoral Tribunal has received hundreds of allegations of mistakes and irregularities.

Independent analysts and officials with Lopez Obrador’s Democratic Revolutionary Party expect the tribunal to rule on a recount within days.

If the court rejects a full recount, it might choose to re-examine votes only in disputed districts. Or it might accept Calderon’s position that the vote already has been counted and that he is Mexico’s president-elect.

If that happens, Lopez Obrador and his supporters say they will fight on.

Lopez Obrador has shown repeatedly that he can mobilize partisans by the tens of thousands. Should he start closing highways or, as his movement threatened this week, blocking Mexico City’s international airport, the cost of the conflict would jump dramatically.