CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan opposition flagbearer Henrique Capriles could give President Hugo Chavez the closest race of his career, though the socialist leader’s charisma and deep pockets provide formidable advantages as he seeks re-election in
October.
With a polished smile and energetic style, the 39-year-old Capriles plans to criss-cross Venezuela yesterday galvanizing supporters and trying to win over wavering Chavez sympathizers.
An accumulation of problems during 13 years of Chavez’s self-styled socialist revolution – such as crime, unemployment and inflation – make 2012 the best moment yet to challenge the former soldier.
Yet Chavez retains the upper hand thanks to seemingly inexhaustible popularity among the poor and a flood of social spending financed by the OPEC member’s vast oil wealth. That means the center-left Capriles, a state governor, will have to build momentum from Sunday’s victory to win over the roughly third of Venezuelan voters who remain undecided.
His aides know he needs a dynamite campaign that projects a modern political vision in contrast to Chavez’s militaristic confrontation, seemingly capricious state takeovers and involvement in far-flung diplomatic disputes.
“I don’t want to be the leader of the world, I want to be the leader of Venezuela,” Capriles told a roaring crowd at his victory rally, pointedly trying to show a difference with Chavez and his fiercely anti-US global ambitions.
A priority for Capriles will be maintaining unity in a historically unruly opposition that has failed to oust Chavez via the ballot box or street protests. Public bearhugs with the four candidates he defeated at the weekend was a good start.
The opposition’s ranks range from a newly-dominant young wing embodied by Capriles seeking to win over voters in Chavez strongholds, to upper-crust blue-bloods preferring to openly confront the president as a dictator.
Capriles’ strength lies in promising change from an administration that has let Venezuela become more dangerous than some war zones, spurred one of the world’s highest inflation rates, and left it suffering from shortages of basic products such as cooking oil and milk.
Though Chavez appears to have recovered from cancer surgery last year, a sudden relapse in his health would probably also work in Capriles’ favor.
