Venezuelans voted yesterday in a key test for populist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, with the main opposition poised to return to the National Assembly after they boycotted the last elections.
Chavez has embraced the campaign, hoping his leftist party will keep a strong grip on the legislature to ease more reform, after nearly 12 years in power marked by nationalizations and social projects.
More than 17 million people are eligible to take part in the vote, two years before presidential polls in the oil-rich South American nation.
The opposition has put aside differences to unite in the umbrella Table for Democratic Unity (MUD) to fight for its first seats since it boycotted the 2005 vote.
They have sought to tap into public concern over one of the world’s highest murder rates and economic woes, including record inflation.
Polls suggest the vote could be tight, or give a slight lead to the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), which is likely to benefit from recent changes to voting districts.
Under the new system, they could win two-thirds of the seats with just over half of the vote.
“We’re not working for a majority, but for hegemony in the assembly. It would be a convincing victory to surpass 110 lawmakers,” said Aristobulo Isturiz, head of the PSUV campaign.
Chavez’s party has enjoyed five years of passing laws with little debate, as well as naming key posts, such as the Supreme Court’s president.
Candidates from small leftist parties who provided the only dissent in the legislature are now running to offer an alternative in the deeply polarized nation.
In more than a decade of rule, Chavez has nationalized public utilities, key industries and media and launched health and education programs for the poor. He has also increased pressure on opposition groups and dissidents.
The ex-soldier has lost only one of 13 votes organized by his government.
A large number of undecided voters were expected to be key this time around.
“I want us to win the elections by a knockout,” Chavez shouted to a sea of red-clad supporters at a final rally.
Opposition leaders like Delsa Solorzano urged votes for a “plural Venezuela.”
About 250,000 security forces were policing the polls.
And Venezuela closed all crossings along its 2,000km border with Colombia, with which it has cut ties several times in recent years. The closures began at 8pm on Saturday and were due to reopen 24 hours later.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro denied the government had expelled a Spanish conservative lawmaker, Gustavo de Aristegui, after he said Venezuela had seen a “serious regression in freedoms.”
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