Chavez seeks new term in election

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is predicting a crushing victory yesterday as he seeks another six-year term in an election that could further entrench Latin America's most defiant voice against US foreign policy.

Chavez leads in various opinion polls over tough-talking former Zulia state Governor Manuel Rosales, who nevertheless has galvanized the opposition by promising to unseat a leader he accuses of steering Venezuela towards autocracy.

Lines formed outside many polling centres in the morning darkness, and Chavez supporters played recordings of bugle calls over loudspeakers.

Chavez has won loyal support from the poor by using the country's oil wealth to fund multibillion-dollar programmes offering subsidized food, free university education, cash benefits for single mothers and other aid.

"Chavez is the first president who has done a lot for the people. He's given us socialism, which means equality," said Johnny Parody, a 31-year-old police officer waiting to vote in Maracaibo.

Conflict and ambition have marked the rise of Chavez, 52, from a boy selling homemade desserts in a dusty backwater to a failed coup commander in 1992 and now a leader who, if re-elected, promises to set the tone of politics in Latin America for years to come.

He has called US President George W. Bush the devil, allied himself with Iran and affected election races all over Latin America while clashing at home with business leaders and opposition-aligned media.

Since he was voted into office in 1998 on a wave of discontent with Venezuela's corrupt political elite, Chavez has increasingly dominated all branches of government. His allies now control congress, state offices and the judiciary.

Loyalists helped him survive a 2002 coup along with a subsequent general strike and 2004 recall referendum.

Rosales, a cattle rancher and state governor who stepped down temporarily to run against Chavez, has rebuilt the opposition from its defeat in the 2004 referendum. His campaign focused on issues such as rampant crime and corruption, which polls have shown are vulnerabilities for Chavez.

Source: China Daily