UPDATE 1-Leftist lawmakers spurn Mexico's Calderon

(Updates throughout)

By Miguel Angel Gutierrez

MEXICO CITY, Sept 1 (Reuters) - More than 100 leftist lawmakers walked out of Mexico's Congress on Saturday ahead of a visit by President Felipe Calderon, snubbing him in protest at what they say was fraud in last year's presidential vote.

Moments before the conservative Calderon arrived to hand over his annual state of the union report, opposition senators and deputies who refuse to recognize his razor-thin election victory last year filed out of the legislature.

"I cannot accept a document that comes from an electoral process that has been legally concluded but whose legitimacy is doubted by millions of Mexicans," said Ruth Zavaleta, head of the lower house and a member of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD.

Scores of seats were left empty as Calderon handed in a written version of his state of the union report. He made brief comments, calling for dialogue with the opposition.

Calderon had already canceled his state of the union address to Congress because leftist lawmakers threatened to stop him from entering the hall. Instead, he plans to give a speech on Sunday at another location.

Calderon won last year's election by less than 1 percentage point, with 36 percent of the vote. His leftist opponent, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, accused him of vote fraud. A court threw out those claims.

Calderon's popularity has jumped as he tries to reach compromises with opposition lawmakers on a tax reform while taking a hard line with violent drug cartels. His approval rating was 65 percent in a Reforma newspaper poll on Saturday, the same as in June.