By Marianna Parraga and Todd Benson
CARACAS (Reuters) - Opposition leader Henrique Capriles on Monday called on Venezuelans to take to the streets and peacefully demand a vote recount if election authorities formally proclaim Hugo Chavez's chosen successor as the next president.
The day after Venezuela's election board declared acting President Nicolas Maduro winner of Sunday's presidential vote by a tight margin, Capriles insisted the opposition's own count showed he was the victor and accused the government of conspiring to hide the truth to remain in power.
"We think we won the election. The other side thinks they won and we're both within our rights," Capriles, a 40-year-old state governor, said in a televised news conference.
"All we're asking is that our rights be respected, that the will of the people be respected, and that every single vote be counted, every little piece of paper, that paper isn't for recycling, it's proof."
The request appeared to fall on deaf ears.
Shortly after Capriles spoke, senior ruling party official Dario Vivas told Reuters the proclamation ceremony would go ahead and accused Capriles of trying to "destabilize" the country, which is home to the world's largest oil reserves.
Conscious of Venezuela's long history of turbulent protests, Capriles urged his supporters to resist temptations to resort to violence. He called for Venezuelans to bang pots and pans in protest on Monday night if Maduro is formally proclaimed winner.
If the stalemate continues, Capriles asked his followers to gather in protest on Tuesday in front of election board offices around the nation. If there is still no sign of a recount by Wednesday, Capriles pledged to lead a peaceful march through the streets of Caracas to the election board's headquarters.
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
The controversy around Venezuela's first presidential election without Chavez on the ballot in two decades ushered in new uncertainty in the OPEC nation of 29 million people.
It also raised doubts about the future of "Chavismo," Chavez's self-proclaimed socialist movement, without its charismatic founder, who died from cancer on March 5.
Before dying, Chavez named his longtime prot?g? Maduro as his preferred successor, giving the burly former bus driver a huge boost heading into Sunday's election.
But the endorsement was not enough to ensure an easy victory for the uncharismatic Maduro, who edged out Capriles with 50.7 percent of the votes, according to election board returns.
Capriles took 49.1 percent, just 235,000 fewer votes, according to the official count. Opposition sources told Reuters their count showed Capriles won by more than 300,000 votes.
The streets of Caracas were mostly calm early on Monday but tensions grew as the day progressed. By mid-afternoon, there were a handful of protests around the capital, with one seeking to disrupt traffic on the city's main highway.
About 200 pro-opposition students protested in an upscale district, trying to enter a hotel where unofficial foreign election observers were meeting. Outside the opposition's campaign headquarters, protesters shouted "No more fraud."
Maduro, 50, said he was open to a full recount, even as he insisted his victory was clean and dedicated it to Chavez. Senior government officials, on state television and Twitter, ridiculed the opposition as sore losers and praised Venezuela's election system as foolproof.
"It's impossible to manipulate the election result," Jorge Rodriguez, Maduro's campaign chief, said on state TV. "The only way the opposition will recognize an election is if they win."
The U.S. government backed the call for a full audit of the results and the Organization of American States offered to send election auditors to help. Chavista allies such as Russia and Cuba, which receives generous aid and subsidized oil from Venezuela, immediately congratulated Maduro.
Opposition leaders said they had gathered evidence of some 3,200 instances of voting irregularities, ranging from allegations of voters using fake IDs to intimidation of volunteers at polling centers.
Venezuela's election board is no stranger to controversy. Over the years, the opposition has repeatedly accused it of turning a blind eye to the blatant use of state resources in favor of pro-Chavez candidates. Critics say four of its five members are openly pro-government.
"The next few hours are critical," Pedro Benitez, a senior member of the opposition coalition, told Reuters. "The opposition has to get access to the ballot boxes, which are under custody of the (military)."
A similar situation gripped Mexico in 2006, when a leftist opposition candidate alleged fraud after losing a tight presidential race to Felipe Calderon. A partial recount followed and Calderon's victory was upheld.
INAUSPICIOUS START FOR MADURO
Maduro's slim victory provides an inauspicious start for the Chavismo movement's transition to a post-Chavez era. It also raises the possibility that he could face challenges from rivals within the disparate coalition that united around the towering figure of Chavez, an icon of the Latin American left.
Chavez beat Capriles by 11 percentage points and 1.6 million votes in October, an advantage the Chavista camp struggled to maintain without its former leader.
Opinion polls had all predicted a comfortable win for Maduro, due to emotion over Chavez's death and the popularity of his social welfare programs. The gap narrowed fast in the final days but even so the result took most Venezuelans by surprise.
The sympathy effect for Maduro following Chavez's death was clearly wearing off and Capriles' campaign message - slamming his rival as an incompetent and poor copy of Chavez unable to fix the nation's many problems - hit home.
Maduro was unable to match his former boss's electrifying speeches but nevertheless benefited from a well-oiled party machine and poor Venezuelans' fears that the opposition might abolish Chavez's slum development projects.
The short campaign apparently helped Maduro. If it had gone longer, he could have lost even more support.
"The death of Chavez was a game-changer that is leading to the gradual reorganization of political power in Venezuela," said Venezuelan political analyst Diego Moya-Ocampos.
MILITARY VOWS TO MAINTAIN ORDER
Under Chavez, Venezuela was the United States' main antagonist in Latin America, and Washington will be watching events closely while trying to avoid any impression of meddling.
Any weakening of Venezuela's socialist rulers could have a ripple effect around the region, given the importance of the government's economic aid and subsidized oil to fellow left-wing governments from Cuba to Bolivia, members of a Chavez-led alliance fiercely critical of U.S. policies.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said a full audit of the results would be "an important, prudent and necessary step to ensure that all Venezuelans have confidence in these results."
Venezuela's armed forces, who have played a major role in the country's tumultuous recent history, including three coup attempts from within the military in the last two decades, vowed to maintain order.
(Additional reporting by Eyanir Chinea and Mario Naranjo; Writing by Todd Benson; Editing by Bill Trott)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelans-vote-future-chavista-socialism-000101418.html
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