Chavez Foes Plan Legal Fight Against His Recall Win

Venezuela's opposition on Wednesday said it would present a legal challenge to President Hugo Chavez's victory in an Aug. 15 referendum after claiming the leftist leader won the recall vote by fraud. Chavez opponents claim the government manipulated electoral registers, violated election rules and programed electronic polling machines to help the retired army paratrooper win the vote on his presidency by a large margin. "The conditions are there to challenge this process ... and for an immediate challenge to the electoral register," said Tulio Alvarez, an opposition attorney who compiled the report on suspected voting irregularities. International observers, including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, endorsed the referendum and said an audit found no evidence of fraud. Electoral authorities, accused of bias by Chavez foes, stand by the results that gave the president 59 percent of the votes. [more ]