Chavez vows clean elections
2005-11-30 15:23
Caracas - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused the opposition of trying to derail congressional elections by pulling out just days before the vote and insisted the polls will be conducted fairly.
Two opposition parties withdrew on Tuesday from Sunday's elections, saying conditions were biased toward allies of the leftist Chavez. A third party threatened to boycott if the vote isn't postponed to ensure fairness.
The Venezuelan leader, who is a vocal critic of US President George Bush, called the move a last-ditch political stunt pulled by an enfeebled opposition that analysts have predicted would be soundly defeated at the polls.
"What fraud? They should accept the truth that they have no public," he said. "It's an attempt at political sabotage."
The defections boost Chavez's chances of winning the two-thirds congressional majority he needs to push through constitutional reforms, including lifting limits on presidential terms in the deeply polarised nation.
Currently, pro-Chavez lawmakers hold 52% of the 165-seat National Assembly. The defectors - major opposition party Democratic Action and the smaller Project Venezuela - together hold 30 seats. The Social Christian Party, or Copei, which has threatened to boycott, holds six.
Chavez, speaking during a ceremony to tout a new train project, said candidates should run to uphold their pledge to the electorate.
"What are they going to tell their people ... after having called elections for months?," Chavez said.
The three parties claim the National Elections Council is biased toward pro-Chavez candidates and allege the candidates used public funds for campaigning.
They also opposed the use of hi-tech thumbprint identification devices that the council said on Monday would not be used.
Democratic Action and Copei long dominated national politics before Chavez's meteoric rise to power in 1998 elections.
The centrist parties differ little in ideology and are united in their fierce opposition to Chavez, who says he is leading a socialist revolution to help the poor.
It could mark the first time since Venezuela's last dictatorship fell in 1958 for neither party to field a candidate.
Chavez said the two parties during their half-century of domination "did whatever they wanted, plundered the country and handed it over to imperialism".
He also accused them of receiving US financial backing and of being the same people who backed a short-lived coup against him in 2002.
"Let them leave! We don't need them," he said later on Tuesday.
- AP