Stern test for Venezuela’s Chavez

and the bugle call was later replaced by folk music mixed with a recording of Chavez’s voice saying “those who love the homeland come with me”. At many polling places, voters started lining up hours before polls opened at dawn.
Chavez”s challenger, Henrique Capriles, has united the opposition in a contest between two camps that distrust each other so deeply there are concerns whether a close election result will be respected.
The stakes couldn’t be higher.
If Chavez wins a new six-year term, he gets a free hand to push for an even bigger state role in the economy, further limit dissent and continue to befriend rivals of the United States.
If Capriles wins, a radical foreign policy shift can be expected along with a loosening of state economic controls and an increase in private investment. A tense transition would likely follow until the January inauguration because Chavez’s political machine thoroughly controls the wheels of government.
Voters began lining up as early as 3am. There was calm in the streets and a jovial but somewhat tense atmosphere that stretched from the high-end malls to the barrios, where motorcycles weaved through lines of voters.
In the barrio of Coches, just outside Caracas, shop worker Jordana Lunez sat watching voters line up. He was one of those who had arrived by 3am at the polling place, where nearby walls were adorned with images of Che Guevara and other leftist heroes.
“If I don’t work, I don’t eat,” said Lunez (37) as a group of motorcyclists roared past bearing Chavez memorabilia. “I voted for change.”
“I hope Capriles can win,” he said. “Many people, especially here, don’t want to shout too loudly about who they’ll vote for. They are obliged to support Chavez, at least publicly.”
Many Venezuelans were nervous about what might happen if the disputes erupt over the election’s announced outcome. David Hernandez, a Chavez supporter, agreed the mood was tense but he blamed the opposition.
“Chavez is going to win and Capriles will have to accept his defeat,” Hernandez said, standing next to his parked motorcycle on a downtown street. “If Capriles doesn’t accept his defeat, there could be problems.”
Chavez’s critics say the president has inflamed divisions by labelling his opponents “fascists,” “Yankees” and “neo-Nazis,” while Chavez backers allege Capriles would halt generous government programmes that assist the poor.
During Chavez’s final rally Thursday in Caracas, he shouted to the crowd: “We’re going to give the bourgeoisie a beating!”
In various parts of the city, long lines of hundreds of voters snaked along sidewalks and around blocks.
“I’m really tired of all this polarisation,” said Lissette Garcia, a 39-year-old clothes seller and Capriles supporter who voted yesterday in the affluent Caracas district of Las Mercedes. “I want to reconnect with all my friends who are ‘Chavistas.’”
“It’s a mature, democratic country where the institutions work, where we have one of the best electoral systems in the world.”
Violence flared sporadically during the campaign, including shootings and rock-throwing during rallies and political caravans. Two Capriles supporters were shot to death in the western state of Barinas last weekend.
Troops were dispatched across Venezuela to guard thousands of voting centres yesterday.
Defence Minister Henry Rangel Silva said as he voted that all had been calm in the morning and he hoped that would continue. He said if any groups try to “disturb order, they should know there is an armed force prepared and equipped and trained . . . to put down any attempt at disturbances.”
He didn’t identify the groups to which he was referring.
Chavez held an impromptu news conference on Saturday night, and when asked about the possibility of disputes over the vote, he said he expected both sides to accept the result. He says he has successfully emerged from about a year of cancer treatment.
“It’s a mature, democratic country where the institutions work, where we have one of the best electoral systems in the world,” Chavez told reporters at the presidential palace.
But he also said he hoped no one would try to use the vote to play a “destabilising game”. If they do, he said, “we’ll be alert to neutralise them.” — AP.