Polarised Venezuela called to the polls

CARACAS – Voting was under way yesterday in polarised Venezuela in an election widely expected to give another six-year term to President Hugo Chavez, a leftist leader who has gained iconic status among US bashers.

Chavez, who has been in office for eight years, has pledged to consolidate his self-styled revolution and launch a new socialist era in the oil-rich but poverty-plagued South American country. He expressed confidence he would sail to victory in the presidential election, with voter intention polls giving him a lead of up to 30 points over state governor Manuel Rosales, who is running for a myriad of opposition groups united mainly by their hatred of the controversial president.”It is very probable that Chavez will win the election; the only question seems to be by how much,” said Luis Vicente Leon, of the polling institute Datanalisis.Long lines of voters formed outside polling stations in Caracas already hours before dawn, and in pro-Chavez neighbourhoods, militants played recorded bugle calls at full volume and let off fireworks to wake up voters.Days before the voting Chavez had already urged the opposition to recognise his victory, though he conceded this could wait until the ballots are counted.Flush with petrodollars, Chavez hakey role in giving him a landslide electoral victory in 1998 and again in 2000.A former paratrooper who once led a failed military coup, Chavez, 52, has survived a two-day ouster, a recall referendum and a massive oil strike aimed at forcing him to step down.He has cultivated his image as a virulent critic of US President George W Bush, whom he called the devil incarnate before the UN General Assembly.At the same time, Venezuela exports about half its daily oil production of more than three million barrels a day to the United States.”The relationship is schizophrenic, because nobody wants to recognise the close links between the two countries,” political analyst Carlos Romero wrote in a report for the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue think-tank.Chavez accuses Washington of seeking to sew discord in Venezuela, and denounced his electoral rival as a lackey of the “US empire.”Rosales, for his part, insisted the leftist leader planned to turn Venezuela into a communist state and called him “a puppet seated on Castro’s lap.”Voting started at 10:00 GMT and was to conclude 10 hours later, though by law polling stations cannot shut their doors before the last person in line as voted.Nampa-AFPHe expressed confidence he would sail to victory in the presidential election, with voter intention polls giving him a lead of up to 30 points over state governor Manuel Rosales, who is running for a myriad of opposition groups united mainly by their hatred of the controversial president.”It is very probable that Chavez will win the election; the only question seems to be by how much,” said Luis Vicente Leon, of the polling institute Datanalisis.Long lines of voters formed outside polling stations in Caracas already hours before dawn, and in pro-Chavez neighbourhoods, militants played recorded bugle calls at full volume and let off fireworks to wake up voters.Days before the voting Chavez had already urged the opposition to recognise his victory, though he conceded this could wait until the ballots are counted.Flush with petrodollars, Chavez hakey role in giving him a landslide electoral victory in 1998 and again in 2000.A former paratrooper who once led a failed military coup, Chavez, 52, has survived a two-day ouster, a recall referendum and a massive oil strike aimed at forcing him to step down.He has cultivated his image as a virulent critic of US President George W Bush, whom he called the devil incarnate before the UN General Assembly.At the same time, Venezuela exports about half its daily oil production of more than three million barrels a day to the United States.”The relationship is schizophrenic, because nobody wants to recognise the close links between the two countries,” political analyst Carlos Romero wrote in a report for the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue think-tank.Chavez accuses Washington of seeking to sew discord in Venezuela, and denounced his electoral rival as a lackey of the “US empire.”Rosales, for his part, insisted the leftist leader planned to turn Venezuela into a communist state and called him “a puppet seated on Castro’s lap.”Voting started at 10:00 GMT and was to conclude 10 hours later, though by law polling stations cannot shut their doors before the last person in line as voted.Nampa-AFP