- CARACAS (AFP) - Venezuela's
President Hugo Chavez celebrated a massive electoral triumph but the opposition
rejected the results and insisted it won the referendum on the leftist
leader's mandate.
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- Chavez's contested victory eased prices on oil markets
Monday. In his victory speech, he vowed oil-rich Venezuela would guarantee
stability on world markets.
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- In Caracas, a large crowd roared its approval as the
controversial leader waved from the presidential balcony shortly after
electoral authorities announced he garnered 58 percent of the vote to the
opposition's 42 percent.
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- "What a great victory," he said as fireworks
lit up the night skies a couple of hours before dawn.
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- Chavez claimed the vote was "clean and transparent,"
urged the opposition to recognize its outcome, and invited his rivals to
join in efforts to build a more just Venezuela.
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- But the opposition claimed the vote was fraudulent and
said it had garnered 59 percent of the ballots to revoke Chavez's mandate
and cut short his term by two years.
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- "We categorically reject the results," said
Henry Ramos Allup, spokesman for the Democratic Coordinator opposition
coalition.
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- "I do not rule out that the political crisis could
get worse," said Juan Fernandez, another opposition leader.
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- There were fears ahead of the vote that a close result
could trigger violent clashes between Chavez supporters and foes whose
sporadic battles have killed scores of people in the past two years.
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- As the recall referendum was underway Sunday, unknown
gunmen fired at voters waiting to cast their ballots just outside Caracas,
killing one person and wounding 10 others, according to the capital's fire
chief Rodolfo Briceno.
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- Chavez called the referendum "a true democratic
fiesta."
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- It was also a test of voters' patience, with many waiting
in line for more than 10 hours before they could cast their ballot.
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- Some of the 14 million registered voters, eager to cast
their ballots early, showed up long before dawn Sunday, when buglers and
fireworks echoed across Caracas to rally voters.
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- Foes of Chavez had pressed for the referendum, accusing
the charismatic president of wasting the country's oil wealth and of seeking
to emulate his close friend Fidel Castro the leader of communist Cuba.
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- But Chavez claims the opposition is merely seeking to
regain the privileges it used to enjoy before he launched the self-styled
revolution he claims is lifting millions of Venezuelans out of poverty.
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- His popularity got a strong boost from recent spending
on highly popular health programs made possible by a windfall brought on
by record oil prices.
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- Chavez warned that only his electoral triumph could guarantee
crude shipments from the world's fifth oil exporter, claiming that an opposition
victory would lead to privatization of Venezuela's huge state oil firm,
which would prompt oil workers to stage a crippling strike.
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- There have been market concerns that a victory by the
opposition, which last year staged a two-month oil sector strike, could
affect exports -- notably to the United States, where Venezuelan shipments
account for 15 percent of oil imports.
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- The opposition (JR: supported and financed by both U.S.
and Venezuela elitist and the bush oil interest using the IMF to force
privatization of the huge state owned oil firm) is an alliance of right-
and left-wing parties, managers and trade unionists, former military officers
and civic groups, united by their hatred of Chavez, but divided on numerous
issues.
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- Chavez was elected to a six-year term in 2000, two years
after he first won presidential elections and eight years after he tried
to grab power in a failed military coup.
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