Chavez, Capriles plead for calm as Venezuela voting goes on late
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his rival Henrique Capriles appealed for calm on Sunday as voting continued after official closing hours in the leftist leader’s toughest election.
“Let’s wait for the results with patience, calm and prepare to recognise the results, whatever they may be,” Chavez, 58, said in a phone call broadcast during a press conference held by his campaign team.
“I ask the nation to stay calm, be patient and that nobody despair, that nobody fall into provocations, no violence, and we wait for the results,” Chavez said.
“Let’s prepare for this with maturity, with good faith and the willingness to continue the march of the Bolivarian fatherland,” Chavez said, referring to Venezuela’s independence hero Simon Bolivar.
Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, 40, has mounted the strongest electoral challenge in the leftist leader’s almost 14 years in power.
“Calm, act sensibly, patience! Today was a historic, magnificent day, the people spoke!” Capriles wrote on Twitter. “We know what happened and we must wait! Viva Venezuela!”
Venezuelans voted in droves in the election, standing in huge lines even before polling stations opened.
Some voting centres remained open more than two hours after the official closing time, 6pm, due to the lines, election authorities said.
Chavez, who won 62 per cent of the vote in the 2006 election, held a 10-point lead in the latest opinion poll, but other surveys have put the rivals in a statistical dead heat.
Key Communist ally Cuba and other Latin American partners are watching closely to see if Capriles, at the head of a united opposition, can pull off a stunning upset and defeat the anti-American firebrand.
