News

Chavez's Socialist Party to Pick Election Candidates This Month
By Matthew Walter
Bloomberg
May 4, 2008

President Hugo Chavez said his planned United Socialist Party of Venezuela will pick candidates for state and municipal elections scheduled for November by the end of this month, and warned the U.S. is aiding the opposition.

Chavez said he'll call a national assembly of more than 1,600 delegates from the party, which is still in its planning stages, on May 9 to develop a method of selecting candidates, in comments broadcast by state television.

The president is focusing on the state and city elections after voters rejected his plan to rewrite the constitution in December, handing him his first electoral defeat since he took office in 1999. Chavez's ruling coalition currently holds 20 out of 23 governorships in Venezuela.

``These regional elections are the most important in the history of Venezuela,'' Chavez said during his Sunday television program ``Alo Presidente.''

The president also warned that the opposition, which he said is receiving support from the U.S., is focusing on maintaining control of the governorship of the oil-producing state of Zulia, and is focusing on winning in western states along the border with Colombia as part of a ``separatist'' movement.

``Some talk about separatism, like Bolivia, like Kosovo,'' Chavez said.

Chavez regularly accuses the U.S. of trying to undermine his socialist government and his allies in the region. Chavez said the U.S. was behind Colombia's attack of a camp of Colombian guerrillas in Ecuadorean territory in March, and has said the U.S. supports media groups that claim the Venezuelan government has threatened press freedom.

Back >>>

NOTE: The Venezuela Information Office is dedicated to informing the American public about contemporary Venezuela, and receives its funding from the government of Venezuela. More information is available from the FARA office of the Department of Justice in Washington DC.

Venezuela Information Office
2000 P Street NW, Suite 240 Washington, DC 20036  tel: (202) 347-8081  fax: (202) 223-8029