Pro-Chavez Petition Tests Venezuela Poll Climate [View All]

[Socialist Christian]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&ncid=586&e=5&u=/nm/20031121/wl_nm/venezuela_referendum_dc

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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez signed petitions on Friday to recall 38 anti-Chavez lawmakers a week before a widely awaited opposition drive aimed at ousting the president himself.



The rival referendum drives are the latest battleground of a long-running conflict between supporters and opponents of Chavez that has kept the world's No. 5 oil exporter in political turmoil for more than a year.


The pro-government petition drive will test the president's political strength before the opposition referendum campaign.


Troops guarded the signing centers across the country where the president's followers lined up to take part in the petition drive against the opposition parliamentarians. International observers monitored the process.