Chavez foes say they secured Venezuela referendum ( 2003-12-03 10:56) (Agencies)
Venezuelan opposition leaders
said Tuesday they had collected just over 3.6 million signatures against leftist
President Hugo Chavez, enough to trigger a constitutional referendum on his rule
next year.
But the announcement put the opposition on a collision course with the
firebrand populist leader, who has accused his foes of committing "mega-fraud"
in a four-day pro-referendum signature drive over the weekend.
Venezuela's electoral authorities will now have the final word on whether the
signatures are valid and whether a vote will be held in March or April 2004.
International observers have already said they saw no evidence of widespread
cheating.
Opposition leaders brushed aside Chavez's fraud accusations in a renewed bout
of feuding with a president they accuse of trying to turn the world's No. 5 oil
exporter into a Communist tyranny.
"It was a successful (pro-referendum signature) campaign ... which
comfortably surpassed the requirements of the constitution," Enrique Mendoza of
the opposition Democratic Coordinator coalition said.
Opposition spokeswoman Delsa Solorzano announced that 3,602,051
pro-referendum signatures were collected. These would be presented to the
National Electoral Council shortly for verification, a task that could take up
to a month.
Under Venezuela's constitution, around 2.4 million signatures -- 20 percent
of registered voters -- were the required minimum to secure a referendum on
Chavez's rule.
But even before electoral authorities started checking the signatures, Chavez
and his government launched a noisy campaign alleging the opposition petition
fell short of the required number and was riddled with forgeries.
"They didn't even get 2 million signatures," Vice President Jose Vicente
Rangel said.
But he said the government would respect the final decision of the National
Electoral Council, when it came.
ALL EYES ON ELECTORAL BODY
Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria met Chavez
Tuesday to clear the air after the Venezuelan leader had criticized him Monday
for not supporting the cheating charges.
Chavez suggested the former Colombian president, who heads the international
monitoring mission for the referendum process, was biased in favor of the
opposition.
Gaviria said after meeting the president it was up to the National Electoral
Council to probe the fraud accusations.
"We're sure the council will investigate fully and that when there is a
result, all sides will accept it," he added.
Opposition leaders say Chavez sympathizers have a 3-2 advantage in the
electoral council's five-member directorship.
The fraud denunciations by the president, who won a 1998 election six years
after failing to seize power in a coup, stirred suspicions that he was trying to
avoid a referendum.
Mendoza warned that the opposition would not tolerate "more tricks and
maneuvers."
Rangel questioned what the opposition would do if its bid to obtain a
referendum failed. "Will they have another go at a coup?" he asked, recalling
the short-lived military uprising that briefly toppled Chavez last year.
Chavez rejects recent polls showing that two out three Venezuelans would vote
him out of office in a referendum.
He says popular support for his self-styled "revolution" remains solid. "I'm
still the king!" he sang at a rally late Monday.
But high inflation and unemployment, worsened by a general strike earlier
this year, have eroded his popularity.
