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12-03-2006, 11:14 PM
Exit poll shows Chavez winning Venezuelan race
By Phil Gunson and Steven Dudley
McClatchy Newspapers
(MCT)
CARACAS, Venezuela - Millions of Venezuelans voted Sunday in a presidential election that pitted incumbent Hugo Chavez's vision of "21st Century Socialism" against a U.S.-friendly opponent who campaigned against Chavez's free hand in disbursing foreign aid and his dominance of most key state institutions.
Official results were not expected until late in the evening but an exit poll by Evans/McDonough, contracted by state oil company PDVSA, showed Chavez winning by 18 percentage points. A majority of pre-election polls had the president winning by large margins.
Chavez supporters were already gathering outside the presidential palace in central Caracas to celebrate should electoral authorities declare their candidate has won another six-year term in his fourth victory at the polls in eight years. Caravans of cars swept through the city, honking their horns as Chavistas shouted campaign slogans.
Rosales' aides were hinting that their own numbers were showing different results, but gave no specifics.
Authorities said the voter turnout may have been a record as lines wrapped around entire city blocks while citizens read newspapers or played brain teasers to pass the almost five hours that some of them waited to vote.
Despite initial complaints by Rosales supporters, international and local observers reported few incidents and nothing that would significantly undermine the vote. After voting in his home state of Zulia, where he was governor until he declared his presidential candidacy, Rosales said that some of the electronic voting booths had problems printing voting receipts, which can be used to audit the vote. Rosales said the voting centers that appeared to have problems were in areas that have traditionally voted against Chavez.
"We won't accept an election like this," he told journalists after voting. However, some of his campaign aides later said the problems had been resolved. And electoral observers from Venezuela's Electoral Eye group and the European Union said they had not found any deliberate attempts to affect the voting process.
"We haven't had any significant, disturbing things," said Jose Virtuoso, the president of Electoral Eye, which has 1,200 observers around the country. For his part, the 52-year-old Chavez said the opposition was trying to upset the process because it was losing.
"Everything has proceeded normally," Chavez said, after arriving in a Volkswagen Beetle to vote at a school in a poor section of western Caracas. "It's not good to start false rumors without having any proof." In Washington, a State Department statement stressed the importance of a "free, fair and transparent process," but said nothing about Chavez, who the Bush administration has branded as a destabilizing influence in Latin America.
Some Venezuelans worried that any significant delays in announcing the official results could provoke street violence. Past opposition expressions of concerns over fraud have raised some fears of violence if the final results favor Chavez. Some 125,000 members of the security forces guarded the polling centers.
The two candidates represent opposite ends of the political spectrum but coincide in their proposals to use the country's burgeoning oil wealth to fund social programs and subsidize basic goods such as gasoline and powdered milk.
Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil exporter and has the largest reserves outside the Middle East.
Chavez's expenditure of billions of oil revenue on health, education and housing projects, which are extremely popular with the poor - about 60 percent of the population - seems to be one of the primary reasons he was heavily favored to win.
"I voted for my commander," said Jorge Mendoza, a 48-year-old carpenter, referring to Chavez, after voting in the poor neighborhood of Catia in western Caracas. "He does things that no other government has done." Mendoza said two of his sons got new houses from the Chavez administration after mudslides destroyed their homes in 1999.
Chavez, an avowed and outspoken enemy of the Bush administration, has also used his oil money to forge new alliances in the region and push to exclude Washington from a nascent economic bloc headquartered in Cuba. What's more, he has sought to diversify his oil clients, selling increasing amounts to countries like China and India.
Still, the United States remains Venezuela's top importer of oil, and after casting his ballot, Chavez offered an olive branch of sorts to Washington.
"All the countries deserve our respect. We want to have the best relations with them, including the United States," he said.
But Chavez's increasing ties to Cuba - he has called ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro his "father" - the rising crime and his increasingly monolithic control of government institutions have some Venezuelans on edge. They worry that another six-year term under Chavez could permanently change their country into something resembling Cuba's communist system.
"The country's situation has gotten worse," said Henry Tronca, 43, a business administrator who voted in the middle class area of Bello Monte in southern Caracas. "Above all, security and employment." Unemployment officially stands at 9 percent.
"We don't want communism," said Elsa Pinango after she voted for Rosales in the Valle district on the southwestern side of Caracas.
Rosales, backed by a coalition of opposition groups, gained unexpected footing during the campaign by attacking Chavez for his poor record on crime and corruption, and his free-handed use of the country's oil wealth to win foreign friends for his anti-U.S. coalition. He successfully united a once divided opposition and made inroads in poor areas by proposing a debit card to pay for basic necessities to be paid for by oil revenue.
But Chavez still seems to have the confidence of the poor majority.
After taking part in a failed coup attempt in 1992, he won the presidential election in 1998 and again in 2000 after a constitutional convention required a new ballot. He survived a 2002 coup attempt, a national strike designed to topple him and a recall referendum in 2004.
During the campaign, he has said that if re-elected he may seek new constitutional changes - likely an end to the current limit of two six-year presidential terms - and repeated that he hopes to rule until 2021.
"He's the president of the humble people," said Lady Fernandez, a 52-year old nurse who voted in Catia.
By Phil Gunson and Steven Dudley
McClatchy Newspapers
(MCT)
CARACAS, Venezuela - Millions of Venezuelans voted Sunday in a presidential election that pitted incumbent Hugo Chavez's vision of "21st Century Socialism" against a U.S.-friendly opponent who campaigned against Chavez's free hand in disbursing foreign aid and his dominance of most key state institutions.
Official results were not expected until late in the evening but an exit poll by Evans/McDonough, contracted by state oil company PDVSA, showed Chavez winning by 18 percentage points. A majority of pre-election polls had the president winning by large margins.
Chavez supporters were already gathering outside the presidential palace in central Caracas to celebrate should electoral authorities declare their candidate has won another six-year term in his fourth victory at the polls in eight years. Caravans of cars swept through the city, honking their horns as Chavistas shouted campaign slogans.
Rosales' aides were hinting that their own numbers were showing different results, but gave no specifics.
Authorities said the voter turnout may have been a record as lines wrapped around entire city blocks while citizens read newspapers or played brain teasers to pass the almost five hours that some of them waited to vote.
Despite initial complaints by Rosales supporters, international and local observers reported few incidents and nothing that would significantly undermine the vote. After voting in his home state of Zulia, where he was governor until he declared his presidential candidacy, Rosales said that some of the electronic voting booths had problems printing voting receipts, which can be used to audit the vote. Rosales said the voting centers that appeared to have problems were in areas that have traditionally voted against Chavez.
"We won't accept an election like this," he told journalists after voting. However, some of his campaign aides later said the problems had been resolved. And electoral observers from Venezuela's Electoral Eye group and the European Union said they had not found any deliberate attempts to affect the voting process.
"We haven't had any significant, disturbing things," said Jose Virtuoso, the president of Electoral Eye, which has 1,200 observers around the country. For his part, the 52-year-old Chavez said the opposition was trying to upset the process because it was losing.
"Everything has proceeded normally," Chavez said, after arriving in a Volkswagen Beetle to vote at a school in a poor section of western Caracas. "It's not good to start false rumors without having any proof." In Washington, a State Department statement stressed the importance of a "free, fair and transparent process," but said nothing about Chavez, who the Bush administration has branded as a destabilizing influence in Latin America.
Some Venezuelans worried that any significant delays in announcing the official results could provoke street violence. Past opposition expressions of concerns over fraud have raised some fears of violence if the final results favor Chavez. Some 125,000 members of the security forces guarded the polling centers.
The two candidates represent opposite ends of the political spectrum but coincide in their proposals to use the country's burgeoning oil wealth to fund social programs and subsidize basic goods such as gasoline and powdered milk.
Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil exporter and has the largest reserves outside the Middle East.
Chavez's expenditure of billions of oil revenue on health, education and housing projects, which are extremely popular with the poor - about 60 percent of the population - seems to be one of the primary reasons he was heavily favored to win.
"I voted for my commander," said Jorge Mendoza, a 48-year-old carpenter, referring to Chavez, after voting in the poor neighborhood of Catia in western Caracas. "He does things that no other government has done." Mendoza said two of his sons got new houses from the Chavez administration after mudslides destroyed their homes in 1999.
Chavez, an avowed and outspoken enemy of the Bush administration, has also used his oil money to forge new alliances in the region and push to exclude Washington from a nascent economic bloc headquartered in Cuba. What's more, he has sought to diversify his oil clients, selling increasing amounts to countries like China and India.
Still, the United States remains Venezuela's top importer of oil, and after casting his ballot, Chavez offered an olive branch of sorts to Washington.
"All the countries deserve our respect. We want to have the best relations with them, including the United States," he said.
But Chavez's increasing ties to Cuba - he has called ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro his "father" - the rising crime and his increasingly monolithic control of government institutions have some Venezuelans on edge. They worry that another six-year term under Chavez could permanently change their country into something resembling Cuba's communist system.
"The country's situation has gotten worse," said Henry Tronca, 43, a business administrator who voted in the middle class area of Bello Monte in southern Caracas. "Above all, security and employment." Unemployment officially stands at 9 percent.
"We don't want communism," said Elsa Pinango after she voted for Rosales in the Valle district on the southwestern side of Caracas.
Rosales, backed by a coalition of opposition groups, gained unexpected footing during the campaign by attacking Chavez for his poor record on crime and corruption, and his free-handed use of the country's oil wealth to win foreign friends for his anti-U.S. coalition. He successfully united a once divided opposition and made inroads in poor areas by proposing a debit card to pay for basic necessities to be paid for by oil revenue.
But Chavez still seems to have the confidence of the poor majority.
After taking part in a failed coup attempt in 1992, he won the presidential election in 1998 and again in 2000 after a constitutional convention required a new ballot. He survived a 2002 coup attempt, a national strike designed to topple him and a recall referendum in 2004.
During the campaign, he has said that if re-elected he may seek new constitutional changes - likely an end to the current limit of two six-year presidential terms - and repeated that he hopes to rule until 2021.
"He's the president of the humble people," said Lady Fernandez, a 52-year old nurse who voted in Catia.