Close battle expected in Venezuela vote on Chavez future

The anti-liberal leader expelled a European deputy and once again slammed alleged assassination attempts against him in the run up to the vote, which could determine whether his self-styled socialist revolution stretches into the next decade. Â

 

Undecided voters will play a key role in the vote on scrapping electoral term limits, pollsters said at the end of the campaign, with Chavez showing a slight lead among those who had already decided.

 

"I have an exalted faith in respect of Sunday's result -- the triumph of the people, the Constitution," Chavez said hours before polling stations were due to open at 6:00 am (1030 GMT).

 

"My certainty in victory is infinitely higher than on December 1, 2007," Chavez added, referring to his first, unsuccessful, attempt to remove presidential term limits as part of a wide range of constitutional changes.

 

This time, voters are only being asked to decide Yes or No or whether to scrap term limits for presidents, governors, lawmakers, mayors and councilors.

 

Chavez, first elected in 1998 and reelected in 2006, said that if the change was approved, he would have "the outlook open until beyond 2013," when his current term expires.Â

 

More than 33,000 electoral posts were set up ahead of the vote, which some 140,000 soldiers were due to oversee.

 

More than 16 million Venezuelans are eligible to take part in what is expected to be a tightly-fought battle in the increasingly polarized country.

 

Chavez, popular with many of the country’s poor for health and education programs and blamed by a vocal opposition for rising crime, corruption and inflation, recently celebrated 10 years in power.

 

Observers claim he rapidly called the vote -- only three months after regional and municipal elections in which the opposition gained ground -- before the country starts to feel the impact of tumbling oil prices, the main source of funding for his social programs.

 

Opposition leaders focused on the importance of alternating power for democracy in their campaign, and accused Chavez, who has led a nationalization drive in recent years, of abusing state resources to fund a massive Yes campaign.

 

From Buenos Aires to Havana, many were watching the vote on the future of the Latin American leftist champion and traditional U.S. foe.

 

"A change in Venezuela I think would have dramatic consequences for the region. It would embolden the right not just in Venezuela but it would embolden the opposition throughout Latin America as well," said Venezuelan analyst Miguel Tinker Salas of Pomona College, California.

 

Former Cuban president and Chavez’s hero Fidel Castro said that "the destiny of the people of our America will depend a lot on victory (of the Yes vote) and that will influence the rest of the planet," in an article published in Cuban media.

 

Meanwhile, Venezuela expelled European Parliament deputy Luis Herrero late Friday after he called Chavez a "dictator."

 

Herrero also slammed the electoral council for extending Sundays voting to end at 6:00 pm (2230 GMT) instead of two hours earlier, claiming the move would risk "not very transparent, anti-democratic maneuvers."

 

Around 100 international observers have been accredited to observe the vote, but neither the Organization of American States (OAS) nor the European Union have official observers in Venezuela.