Chavez: 'A great victory'

2004-08-16 13:17

Caracas - President Hugo Chavez survived a popular referendum to oust him in a vote that drew a record number of Venezuelans to the polls, according to results announced on Monday.

Chavez, champion of Venezuela's majority poor and nemesis of the wealthier classes, immediately claimed victory. The opposition quickly claimed fraud.

Francisco Carrasquero, president of the National Elections Council, said 58% of voters voted "no" to the question of whether Chavez should immediately end his term in office, and 42% voted "yes." That tally was with 94% of the votes counted, Carrasquero said.

"It is absolutely impossible that the victory of the 'no' be reversed," Chavez, standing on a presidential palace balcony in the pre-dawn darkness, told thousands of jubilant supporters. "This has been a great victory for the Venezuelan people."

Champion of the people

Carrasquero stopped short of declaring Chavez the outright winner of Sunday's referendum. But vote counts he released - 4 991 483 against Chavez's recall and 3 576 517 in favour - indicated an insurmountable lead.

Haydee Deutsch, an opposition leader, said fraud had been committed and that the opposition "has no doubt that we won by an overwhelming majority."

Indicating a possible split in the five-member National Elections Council, Sobella Mejia - one of the members who is aligned with the opposition - told a news conference before the tallies were announced that any release of partial figures would be premature and invalid.

Uncertainty about the leadership of the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, along with continuing unrest in Iraq, have contributed to record high oil prices. On Monday, crude oil prices hit a new all-time high of $46.91 per barrel.

Henry Ramos Allup, a leader of the opposition coalition, said it would appeal to international organisations and demand an audit of the results.

At the opposition headquarters in Caracas, opponents watching Carrasquero's announcement on TV started yelling "Fraud! Fraud!"

"This is impossible to swallow," said Jesus Torrealba, another opposition leader.

Chavez had repeatedly claimed that the opposition leaders were pawns of US President George Bush.

"Hopefully, from this day on, Washington will respect the government and people of Venezuela," Chavez boomed from the balcony.

But he had words of reconciliation for those who led the effort to oust him before his six-year term ends January 2007.

The sheer number of voters, believed to be a record for any election in Venezuela, along with problems with electronic thumbprint ID machines, caused election officials to postpone the polls' closing to midnight - eight hours later than first scheduled.

The first-ever recall vote for a president in Venezuela was aimed at putting a lid on years of often violent political unrest, including a bloody coup, and came after a lengthy and complicated process of mass signings of petitions.

- AP