Venezuelan Opposition Schedules Presidential Primary Season

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

CARACAS -(Dow Jones)- The Venezuelan political opposition has scheduled its presidential primary season, during which it will choose a challenger to President Hugo Chavez's reelection bid in the 2012 election.

According to a statement posted late Wednesday on the website of the Mesa de Unidad Democratica, a coalition of political parties opposed to the Chavez administration, the primary election will be organized and held between Nov. 27 and March 11.

During the period, the group will set the rules governing the process and appoint a commission charged with organizing the election, according to the statement.

Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma has already made an informal announcement that he would seek the nomination. Henrique Capriles Radonski, governor of the state of Miranda, has also been mentioned as a possible candidate.

No clear challenger has emerged from Venezuela's opposition, though some observers believe Chavez's hold on office is far from ironclad after his ruling party recently lost its supermajority in the legislature, in balloting that saw the opposition win just more than half of the total votes.

After a boycott of legislative elections in 2005, Venezuela's opposition was largely shut out of national government. A strong showing at the polls last year, however, returned a significant opposition presence.

Opposition lawmakers captured a little more than a third of the seats in the one-chamber legislature after winning 52% of the popular vote.

The recently convened parliament has held a politically bruising session, with frequent clashes between the reinvigorated opposition and Chavez's ruling party including a fistfight between two representatives on the assembly floor.

According to local pollsters, Chavez has seen his popularity slip as Venezuelans grapple with skyrocketing inflation, high levels of street crime and a housing shortage.

-By Ezequiel Minaya, Dow Jones Newswires; 58-414-120-5738; ezequiel.minaya@ dowjones.com