Venezuela opposition seeks to brake Chavez in new elections

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Demoralized by their failure to unseat President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s opposition hopes to bounce back in December state elections that provide a chance to curb the socialist president’s power.

The opposition holds seven of Venezuela’s 23 states and is fighting to at least keep those by appealing to voters’ worries over uncontrolled crime, cronyism and sputtering services. But the government is counting on momentum from the Oct. 7 presidential election victory – where Chavez’s charisma and anti-poverty programs outweighed weariness with those day-to-day problems – to make gains at a regional level.

Chavez carried all but two of the states in his re-election triumph and is now sending out some political heavy hitters inside his party to try and wrest control of some opposition-held governorships.

“No one is giving up,” said Ramon Guillermo Aveledo, mastermind of the opposition Democratic Unity coalition that this year managed to unite Venezuela’s diverse opposition parties for the first time during Chavez’s 14-year presidency.

“The reasons for this struggle remain exactly the same,” added Aveledo, urging supporters to ensure a good turnout despite disappointment at opposition candidate Henrique Capriles’ 11-point loss to Chavez in the election.

Chavez’s new six-year term starts in January and will extend his rule to two decades, though there is speculation the cancer that floored him for a year from mid-2011 may recur.

Opposition leaders generally stay quiet on Chavez’s health but view the Dec. 16 state elections as a chance to at least limit his influence.

Despite being squeezed of funding by the central government, most of the seven opposition governors have won plaudits for relatively efficient administrations. Capriles governs Miranda state and used his successes there in health, education and food programs as a springboard for his presidential bid.

Now he is locked in the headline battle on Dec. 16, when he will seek re-election in Miranda and faces Chavez’s high-profile former vice-president, Elias Jaua.

Promising to deepen socialist reforms and improve efficiency in his new term, the 58-year-old Chavez handpicked Jaua and is providing ample campaign resources to try and sink his presidential rival’s political future. “He’s not going to have the Miranda governorship as a consolation prize,” declared Jaua, 42, a former stone-throwing student radical who is one of Chavez’s most trusted allies.

Capriles, 40, insists he is back in fighting shape and is reminding voters that, even though he fell short, the opposition had its best showing against Chavez, with a record vote of 6.5 million or 44 percent of the total.