Chavez's statement raised questions about whether he would accept the results of the signature campaign. But international observers, who are monitoring the process, say it has gone smoothly except for a few isolated incidents. "People have been able to sign... and the process has been democratic and as far as our observers have been able to see, clean," said Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria, who is leading the monitoring mission. Gaviria avoided being drawn on how the OAS would react if Chavez did not accept the results. But he said he was confident both sides would respect any decision by electoral authorities. The National Electoral Council, which is overseeing the process, has about 30 days to verify the validity of the signatures before deciding whether to allow a referendum, probably in April, on whether Chavez should end his mandate. ***
Speaking to several thousand cheering supporters at a late night rally, the leftist president repeated an accusation made over the weekend that his foes cheated massively in the four-day signature campaign, which ended Monday.
"Dr. Gaviria said he saw nothing abnormal. ... I think you overstepped the mark, Dr Gaviria," said Chavez, who also complained that the OAS Secretary General failed to seek a meeting with him during his stay.
Earlier Gaviria, who headed a mission of international observers monitoring the Venezuelan referendum process, directly contradicted Chavez's accusations by saying he had seen no evidence of widespread fraud.
Chavez, who has ruled the world's No. 5 oil exporter since 1998, questioned the OAS chief's impartiality, commenting that he "spent a lot of time with the opposition." The comments by the populist president stirred fears that he would refuse to accept a referendum against him. It also raised the possibility of a public dispute with Gaviria, a former Colombian president and leading diplomat in the Americas.
Opposition leaders hailed their pro-referendum drive as "a triumph of democracy," saying they believed they had collected enough signatures to trigger the referendum against Chavez. They say his self-proclaimed "revolution" is dragging Venezuela toward Cuba-style Communism.
Venezuela's National Electoral Council will have the sensitive job of verifying the signatures collected to see if they reach the 2.4 million legally required to secure a vote. If they do, a referendum could be held in March or April.
One opposition leader, anti-Chavez union boss Alfredo Ramos, told Reuters he estimated 3.7 million pro-referendum signatures had been gathered over the last four days. But senior government officials insisted the signatures collected had not reached 2 million. ***