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Rosales gaining momentum as Venezuela campaign winds down
From Martha Colmenares sinmordaza.net.More than a millon Venezuelans jammed a major highway Saturday to show their support for opposition's only presidential candidate Manuel Rosales, vowing to vote the incumbent President Hugo Chavez out of office in Dec. 3 elections.
By Elio Ohep
Petroleumworld
CARACAS
Petroleumworld.com 11 26 06Rosales, opposition only candidate against the incumbent anti-US president Hugo Chavez is climbing to the level of his rival as political parties winds down their final campaign week rallies before Venezuela's December 3 election, with hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans gather in the major highway in Caracas Saturday to show their support for Rosales, owing to vote Hugo Chavez out of office in Dec. 3 elections.
Rosales, gave the crows, 2 hours of speech, offering a "new democracy" against Chavez's "21st century socialism,".
"The government is going to fall!" shouted Rosales to supporters. "It is going to fall at the voting booth."
However, opinion polls forecast a mix bag of predictions from a landslide for Chavez to 2 point lead for Rosales. In the last poll by CECA. C.A., release on Oct. 29, Rosales in the the top: Rosales 41.3% - Chávez 39.2%, undecided 18% - Benjamín Rausseo 0.7% - Ns-NC 0.7%
While in a poll released Friday by Zogby International, Chavez had the support of 60 percent of voters, compared to 31 percent for Rosales, governor of the state of Zulia.
But Chavez's lead over Rosales has actually shrunk, they said, because an October poll gave him a 35-point margin, 59 percent to 24 percent. At the start of the campaign Rosales only registered a six percent support figure.However, in a poll release on last Thursday by Survey Fast, at 9 days from the elections, Chavez is down to 49.8% while Rosales has climb to 49.1%.
Rosales is pinning its hopes for a land slide on a voters who don't dare express their real opinion against Chavez to pollsters, because they are afraid of government retaliation against them and on the 30 percent of people expected to abstain from voting because of doubts about the independence of the National Elections Council under Chavez."A lot of people back him (Rosales) more because he is against the president," according to Saul Cabrera, director of polling firm Consultores 21, AFP reported.
Rosales predicts that he can win, his own polling and some independent surveys show he can win the election.
But Chavez, has the full support of its government apparatus and fully controls the electoral organization and it is very difficult for the opposition to beat that lead.The election will be watch by independent observers from the Organization of the American States and the European Union.
- Elio Ohep, editor@petroleumworld.com, 58 412 996 3730, caracas.Petroleumworld 25 11 06
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